In the first match of the season, we successfully defended against the attack from Belarus, who aimed for a win, but fell a bit short due to better tactical decisions from our side
(75170).
We struggled with a poor game shape before the match. Roster in the first game of the season is usually a bit unpredictable, since there is a lot of variation between game shapes of important players. More than 50% of them are typically still at 7, while some reach high 8 or even 9, which is a really significant difference. Therefore, even lower quality players might come very useful. Such was also the case here. Our starting five was quite common,
Hartsten, Fyhrhult, Häggin, Börjesson and
Dallius, while our reserve lineup had some unusual names, such as
Sabata Nkabinde (2nd appearance in the NT),
Niclas Kihlsjö (first appearance), and a veteran
Charlie Håkansson, who was also almost forgotten in the last two seasons. But he aged well and came useful for this match.
Belarusians still had higher DMI among their players, and played with a higher attitude, so I was very pessimistic when I scrolled down the tactical decisions. Start of the match was very even, and it was difficult to tell who profited more from their advantages. Neither team got any lead in the first quarter, we were in front for the most of it, but at the final seconds Belarus ended with an advantage of 30-28.
We started Q2 much, much better.
Sören Häggin scored a very distant three pointer for our lead, 33-32. That amazing shot gave us some well needed self-confidence, and only 90 seconds later we were already ahead by 8, thanks to another three pointer from Sören. Our march didn't end there, we kept our pace, and yet another Häggin's three pointer got us to 51-38. We reached the highest advantage of +15 just a few seconds later. By the end of the half time, our concentration slightly lowered, and Belarusians managed to get a bit closer, with a half-time result of 60-50 for Sweden.
Thanks to the higher attitude, Belarus still threatened us in the beginning of Q3, with the closest result being 66-61. Afterwards, we got back to +10 and kept such lead until the end of the quarter. Strong beginning into Q4 got us to 98-81, but then the oponent woke up again and got to 109-103 with 3 minutes to go.
Sabata Nkabinde then scored two important points, and later, yet again, Häggin scored a three pointer which got us to 114-105. Afterwards, the Belarusians lost some nerves, a flagrant foul was made by their guard
Jagor Halinovich, and this effectively sealed the game.
I must say, I was positively surprised with the outcome, we showed real strength and managed to get a very decent result. Belarus was the first opponent of Slovenia in the last European championships, and it was quite a nervous match, especially until the half time
(72505). With more parameters on their side this time, I must say the result is very promising. But random is a huge factor in BB, so not much can be judged from only one match.
Player of the match was, no doubt there,
Sören Häggin, who scored 41 points, gave 6 assists, and collected 6 rebounds. Nine assists were also distributed from
Roger Hartsten, who also demonstrated a nice performance and can take most of the credit for our high "offensive flow" rankings.
Next comes Spain, one of the two superpower nations in our group. They are the defending European vice-champions, but had a somewhat mediocre world cup performance. We will try to do our best, but it is no secret, that we will save some strength for later matches.
Portugal managed to beat
Italy thanks to the higher attitude, so this will make a battle for the top two spots even more interesting.
Last edited by Deschamps at 06/26/2024 06:17:45