The match of Georgia and Russia justified hopes of fans at EuroBasket which is underway in Lithuania. The match turned out interesting and tense.
Georgia was close to beating one of the favorites of the group Russia. Andrei Kirilenko played perfectly but if luck had been on our side, the match would have ended up in the favor of us.
We asked Georgian specialist Tamaz Okruashvili to make comment about the mentioned match.
- The match showed that we could have defeated the experienced opponent…
- Russian press is writing about this match. Your colleagues praised our team. Everything is said with it.
- What was the reason of our loss?
- After beating Belgium, the management of Russian team aimed to neutralize Zaza Pachulia, Viktor Sanikidze and Giorgi Tsintsadze. If these three basketball players had showed 40 per cent of their possibilities, we would have had other result. Manuchar Markoishvili and Giorgi Gamkrelidze played well but they could not save the match. In the 4th quarter, there was only two-point difference (50:52) for about 2 minutes but Russians won the match.
- After losing the first half with 13 points (27:40), Georgian basketball players played better in the second half.
- Igor Kokoskov, head coach of our team, set up zone defense on time. Our opponent was better physically prepared and this fact had influence on the score.
- What can you say about referees?
- Referees made many mistakes in the favor of Russians. Two 3-point of Markoishvili was not counted.
- Tomorrow, we will play against another favorite of the group Slovenia…
- In case of victory, we can take the second place in the group…
- And is it real that Georgians can beat one of the best teams of Europe?
- Considering that some members (Shermadini, Vladimir Boisa, Tskitishvili…) of our team knew basketball players of this country, it is possible to beat Slovenia.
Roland Labuchidze
