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Despite a scare from the tiny southeast Asian nation, Croatia was able to down the Philippines 81-78 in overtime in the opening game of the FIBA World Cup. Saric contributed nicely, finishing the contest with a loaded stat line: 10 points, 9 rebounds, and four assists.
The bad? Saric fouled out with just over two minutes to go in the fourth quarter, leaving his national team to fend without him in the overtime period. From Sean O'Connor's recap:
Point forward may be a bit strong of a description for Saric right now. He puts the ball on the floor and is a nifty passer - he threw a bounce pass half the length of the floor on a fast break that was right on target to a sprinting teammate that I hope goes on YouTube so I can watch it repeatedly and maybe take it out to dinner - but he doesn't seem to have an idea of what he's going to do with the ball at all times.
His talent looked unharnessed - expectations make it easy to forget that Saric is only 20-years-old. His decision-making lags behind his passing and dribbling skills. He turned the ball over 3 times to go with his 4 assists, and it seemed like he was mostly out of control when he had the ball in his hands.
Mario Hezonja was a DNP in Saturday's contest.
Croatia plays Argentina today at 7:30 AM, and might be a real good test of what Saric can do against NBA talent like Luis Scola, Pablo Prigioni and (FORMER SIXER) Andres Nocioni.
As always, the thread is yours to discuss.