3-0!

YESSSSSSSSS......... We are 3-0 in group play! Another big road win for GB basketball. Road wins are hard to come by in the Euro basketball world and we have two of them in the first three games of group play. They are hard to come by because of a lot of factors. Tough travel to some of these countries (you can't get there from here), Hotels and food are not what most of the players and coaches are use too, older/hot/crowded/small gyms to play in with very loud aggressive crowds and we will not get into referees. Team GB has shown a toughness and determination to fight through all that and keep our focus on the prize. Winning the game. The arena in Bosnia was a good size holding about 6,000 and although it wasn't completely full it was a loud, excited crowd that greeted us as we came out for warmups. The building is very old with seats that go almost straight up from the court. It seems at times that the crowd is right on top of you. They also have the "old school" benches with plastic shields behind you to protect the team from any flying objects. That wasn't really a problem until late in the game when an object that looked like a lighter was thrown on to the court after what the crowd thought was a bad call by the refs. Fortunately no one was hit and the game went on.

Bosnia jumped on us early with some tough shots made by their Bosnian/American Henry Domercant, the only player who's name does not end in vic. Nesovic, Dedovic, Milosevic....... He is a 6'4" guard who is a very good Euro player who has played at the highest levels over here. Greece,Russia and Spain making about $1,000,000 a year. We clamped down on him defensively after he scored the first 8 points of the game and he only ended up with 16 points for the game. Luol Deng did a great job defending him most of the game. We came back at them in the second half as our defense really picked up, allowing only 32 point in the second half! We came away with a hard fought, very rewarding 84-80 road victory.

Luol Deng had a solid game with 16 points and 7 rebounds.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu had another solid game with 16 points and 12 rebounds (5 offensive)

Flinder Boyd gave a solid minutes at the point guard position

But the two stars of the game were:

Dan Clark, 23 points 8-10Fg and 5-5 from 3Pt line

Nate Reinking, 21 points, 3-6 from 3Pt line

Now it back home for 2 games against Ukraine and our second game against Hungary. We are close to taking control of the group but we must stay focused and not be satisfied. The games do not get any easier. All the teams in our group are capable of beating every team in the group.