Great Britain Finish EuroBasket on a High with Poland Win
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September 5, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Great Britain secured an entertaining 88-81 victory over Poland in their final group match at the EuroBasket tournament in Lithuania.
Great Britain finished their 2011 EuroBasket campaign on a high with victory over Poland to leave the tournament with their heads held high.
Defeats to the hosts Lithuania, Turkey and Spain in their opening group fixtures meant that the inexperienced team all but crashed out at the first hurdle despite the presence of NBA star Luol Deng.
But after creating history with their first ever EuroBasket victory, 85-73 against Portugal on Saturday, GB knew that if they could beat Poland by more than 50 points and Turkey lost their fixture against Spain then they might go through.
This may have been an impossible ask, but GB still played with freedom and style as they outlasted a Polish side who had upset the applecart against Turkey in their previous fixture.
Many critics had labelled Britain as not fit enough to compete at this level after late collapses in their opening fixtures, but they put the record straight with a fantastic final quarter against Poland on their way to an 88-81 victory.
When Poland romped to a 25-16 third quarter win the Britons in the stadium may have been fearing a repeat, but an exceptional fourth quarter score of 33-25, thanks mainly to a much better conversion of free throws, saw Britain pick up win number two.
The record books will show that Deng top-scored with 28 and the again impressive Joel Freeland sprung to life in the final quarter to finish with 27, but much can be said of a dogged defensive display that limited Poland’s obvious attacking prowess. Although a few of the Polish attacks came from GB errors once more, it was a vast improvement on their opening fixtures.
It gives the team renewed hope of challenging at next summer’s Olympic Games in London when Deng will hopefully be joined by his fellow NBA star Ben Gordon, who is missing at this event due to an inability to sort out an insurance package with his team due to the NBA lockout and also the imminent birth of his son.
Whilst some players showed visible signs of fatigue after a gruelling experience in Lithuania, the passion to represent their country and the eagerness to play to the level Deng is used to in the United States will be pleasing for coach Chris Finch. But there will also be some statistics he will be eager to change.
Only Deng and Freeland boasted double-figure scores for the match, netting 55 of GB’s 88 points between them. In contrast, five of Poland’s stars hit double figures, with four of them scoring 15 points or more.
The free throw conversions weren’t always too pretty either, and Robert Archibald in particular was guilty of missing some efforts he would normally be expected to put away.
But on this occasion the positives far outweighed the negatives, and despite exiting the EuroBasket at the first stage, GB can now look ahead to next summer with reinvigorated optimism.
By Leigh Gruffydd Sanders
[Image courtesy of Airman 1st Class Kerelin Molina]
