Strong personal motivation draws Peric back to Zadar, Croatia

ZADAR (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) – Down at 0-2, Croatia are in desperate need of a home run. Batter up, and his name is Hrvoje Peric, trying to get that hit that would prevent a lethal Strike Three for the checkered nation.

"I am well aware that Croatia have a couple of superstars in the power forward position in Dario Saric and Dragan Bender. And I am also aware of my place in that rotation and the national team. But I had strong personal motivation to join the team this time," the 32-year-old Umana Reyer Venezia player said.

"Let's just keep it at that. Personal motivation, no need to further elaborate on it. Once I got the call, I was feeling a lot of mixed emotion, but something felt right, that's why I'm here right now."

Those who have watched Hrvoje Peric perform for his club in both the Basketball Champions League and the Italian Serie A find it hard to believe that the power forward hasn’t been a part of Croatian plans since 2006.

"My last official game was away at Estonia in late September 2006. I remember we were up 4 with 5 seconds left in the game, only for someone on our team, I think it was Branimir Longin, to foul on a desperate halfcourt three-point attempt by Estonia. To make matters worse, the shot went in, Estonia tied the score and went on to win the game," Peric described his last game in detail.

Maybe even too much, remembering everything about a play that happened in a game almost 12 years ago. And a loss that, eventually, didn’t even hurt Croatia in those FIBA EuroBasket 2007 Qualifiers. But that just shows you that when it comes to playing for the national team, Peric cares a lot.

"I would lie if I said that I'm not feeling a bit nervous right now. In a positive way. It's a mixture of nerves and excitement before putting on the national team jersey."

This coming from a man who has seen it all. A man who had led Venezia to first league title in Italy since 1943. A man who played a couple of great seasons for KK Zadar, in the Mecca of Croatian basketball.

"Those were the two years that I've enjoyed the most in my career. I have nothing but great memories when somebody mentions Zadar. Even though my last game for the team was a missed match-point in 2010, we led by 2-1 in the Croatian League Finals and had a game at home, almost 10,000 fans showed up, but we fell apart mentally and lost the whole series," Peric recalled his Zadar days.

Croatia will need some of that "almost 10,000 fans" kind of atmosphere against Romania and the Netherlands. There is no margin for error anymore, two wins out of two games are a must for coach Ivica Skelin and his team.

"We will play as aggressive as possible, looking for easy points in transition and trying to play some fast basketball. Playing halfcourt sets perfectly is not easy in this kind of schedule, when teams don't have a lot time to work on them. And I know that aggressive kind of basketball will also get the Zadar crowd going," Peric said.

Croatia haven’t played an official game in Zadar since 2004. With their backs against the wall, the team decided to end the way-too-long exodus out of the beautiful coastal town in Dalmatia. The return of Zadar and the return of Peric, all lined up for a feel-good story of this window, if they can take down Romania and the Netherlands.

"I really have no regrets about not being a part of those previous Croatian teams, because they really haven't had the greatest success over the years. In fact, I'm feeling thankful to all those national team coaches that didn't want me on the team. They gave me a lot of free summers, and I've enjoyed my share of sun, swimming, beaches and card games in Dubrovnik," Peric said with a smile.

His only regret right now is that none of his teammates play Treseta, the traditional card game, these days.

"They are all playing mobile phone games. Well, maybe I'm just too old."

Too old? At 32, for mobile games - probably yes. For basketball? Not even close.

FIBA