FIBA World Cup Day 5: Croatia On The Bubble
By Phil Watson
Twelve of the 16 spots in the elimination round at the FIBA World Cup in Spain are locked up with one day to play in the group stage. But Croatia—the pre-tournament favorite to win Group B—is not one of those delightful dozen.
Croatia was doomed by a bad first half against Greece in Group B play at Sevilla on Wednesday, falling behind 36-23 in the opening 20 minutes and never seriously making a run.
The Croatians (2-2) are still likely to get in—they only have to beat Puerto Rico (1-3) on Thursday. But a loss will send Puerto Rico into the round of 16 and will send Croatia home.
Greece got 14 points each from Kostas Papanikolaou and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks while Ioannis Bourousis went for 13 points and 10 rebounds. Nikos Zisis dished out 10 assists and scored three points and Papanikolaou also had three steals.
Croatia was led by Bojan Bogdanovic of the Brooklyn Nets, who scored 20 points. Dario Saric added 10 points and three steals, but was just 4-for-12 from the floor. Ante Tomic grabbed nine rebounds and scored nine points and Krunoslav Simon blocked two shots and scored six points.
Greece hit 50 percent of its shots (33-for-66) while Croatia made just 39.3 percent (24-for-61).
In Group C play, the United States remained undefeated with a 106-71 demolition of the Dominican Republic. For more details on that game, click here.
Here is the rest of the action from Day 5, broken down by group: