PIRAEUS (Greece) - Two down, two to go. Croatia and the Dominican Republic reached the halfway point of their expedition at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 in Greece, successfully closing the group stage chapter and entering the elimination round.
They will play in the second Semi-Final in the Peace and Friendship Stadium at 21:00 local time (14:00 in the Dominican Republic, 20:00 in Croatia) on Saturday.
Key matchup
If we present it like an equation in which Ivica Zubac and Dario Saric are probably going to be the better frontcourt, while Jean Montero and Andres Feliz would be the better backcourt, the key battle on this seesaw would be in between.
Mario Hezonja is the vocal leader for Croatia and his athleticism is on another level, making him one of the most exciting swingmen in European basketball right now. He just signed a new five-year long contract with Real Madrid, the longest contract of his career.
The 29-year-old from Dubrovnik averaged 14 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7 assists per game in the group stage, getting everybody involved even if his shots aren't falling.
Chris Duarte does for coach Che Garcia and Dominican Republic a similar job as Hezonja for Croatia. Duarte is the one pushing his teammates to play fearlessly, the one gathering them together for mini-timeouts during game breaks, the one motivating both himself and others.
He is 27 years old and spent the past three seasons between the Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings. A successful summer on national team duty could fuel his confidence for a bigger role at club level next season.
Duarte had 27 points against Spain in a friendly just days before arriving in Greece, and he put up 26 against Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece in the group phase in Piraeus.
Whoever wins that Hezonja v Duarte matchup would be that much closer to a spot in the Final.
X-factors
Bench points. Croatia got a total of 13 points from their second unit against New Zealand, a number that Jean Montero can easily match by himself as the Dominicans' sixth man.
While there's no doubt that Zubac, Saric and Hezonja can score in bunches, they need that extra punch that Goran Filipovic and Danko Brankovic provided in their first game in Greece, against Slovenia.
Meanwhile, Montero is not the only troublemaker off the bench for coach Garcia. Eloy Vargas gave them a nice boost when they faced Egypt, finishing with 6 points and 7 rebounds in just 10 minutes of action, before sitting out the game against Greece.
That bought him another day to rest before the Semi-Finals, and he should be rested and ready on Saturday.
Stats don't lie
The Dominican Republic know what they need to do to win this one: run. They average 15.5 points off turnovers, compared to Croatia's 8, and they come up with 7 steals per game, meaning Croatia's guards are going to have to take extremely good care of the ball.
Croatia need to make it a slower game and dominate inside. They get 41.5 rebounds per game, way above the Dominicans' 34, and they are +9 in points in the paint, compared to their next opponent.
Past matchups
None! The recent rise in Dominican basketball coincided with Croatia's downfall. As the FIBA Americas representative grew into a feel-good story at the two most recent FIBA Basketball World Cup events, Croatia failed to qualify for both competitions.
Before 2019, it was the other way around, with Croatia omnipresent at major events, while the Dominican Republic watched and learned from afar.
They said
"We know they've got a lot of great athletes, and their backcourt is exceptional, creating both for themselves and their teammates. Their offensive transition is the best part of their game, and they run into high pick-and-rolls to get the guards to attack on the run. We will have to remain disciplined in defensive transitions, try to get them into our rhythm and show the same kind of performance like we did so far. They made the Semi-Finals and they deserve utmost respect, definitely." - Croatia head coach Josip Sesar
"It's going to be a tough game. For us it's going to be very crucial to stay locked in and play tough as a team. We got to stay together, we know the difficulty of the game and we know what we're playing for. [My future teammate at Real Madrid, Mario Hezonja] is a great player, we are right now going our separate ways and for now we both want to do our best to help our country." - Dominican Republic guard Andres Feliz.
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