Poland stun 11,000 fans in Prague as Ponitka, Slaughter deliver masterclass

PRAGUE (Czech Republic) - It had not been an easy summer for Poland until the start of FIBA EuroBasket 2022, but Mateusz Ponitka and A.J. Slaughter are determined to change their fortunes. They combined for 49 to defeat Czech Republic, 99-84 on their premiere in the big tournament.

Czech Republic played the second half without their captain Tomas Satoransky. The point guard tried playing through the injury in the first half, dished out 6 assists in 17 minutes, but missed both of his shots from the field and struggled to find any kind of rhythm.

Seeing Satoransky on the floor was already a positive for the hosts. He was a game time decision for this game, his status will remain the same for all the other battles in Czech Republic.

Turning point: Poland were in front from start to finish, but Czech Republic managed to make it interesting by crawling back to a four-point deficit with three minutes left to play. They hoped for a close finish with packed stands in Prague, but that's just the kind of atmosphere that inspires the Polish one-two punch.

Slaughter and Ponitka knocked down three three-pointers, Slaughter had a typical Slaughterian floater, too and all of those shots had the silencing effect to them, too. The only thing heard in the arena were the cheers from a small but loud Polish group in the upper sections of the arena.

TCL Player of the Game: It could've been Slaughter for his 23-point outburst, but the honor belongs to Ponitka. The captain had 26 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, and Poland were a +22 team with him on the floor.

With the two of them putting up crazy numbers, Aleksander Balcerowski's 14, Michal Sokolowski's 12 and Michal Michalak's 10 points went under the radar.

Stats don't lie: With their two shooters being the top scorers, you wouldn't get the real picture about this game. Poland dominated inside, not outside, getting 52 points in the paint, compared to 38 for Czech Republic, and had a +12 edge in rebounds.

Bottom line: Poland got the start they needed, and could be a dangerous team the rest of the way, because this reminded the fans of their FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 performances, when they were among the top eight teams in the world.

The hosts got 17 points from Jan Vesely, Jaromir Bohacik had 13, and Patrik Auda 10, but it wasn't their offense that was problematic, it was the defense. Allowing 99 points will not get the job done in this group.

They said:

"It was a very hard fought game both ways. Big crowd, big test for us, but we started the game really well, got the lead. They came back, but we really showed our composure and finished the game in key moments. We've been missing that a couple of times, but we finally got the job done." - A.J. Slaughter, Poland

"We did a very good job in sticking to our game plan on a level that we wanted. We didn't want to give too much room for Hruban, Bohacik, those shooters who can go streaky, and in the moments that we let Peterka shoot, they came back into the game. We were composed in offense, fought defensively, and we deserved this win against Czech after a long time, at their home. It's big for us, it's big for our country, but it's just one game." - Poland coach Igor Milicic

"We knew from the beginning it was going to be a very difficult game, first time in this big arena, first game for us here. Maybe we felt a bit of pressure, but there was a lot of good moments, and bad moments, ups and downs, and at the end we weren't able to finish the game the way we wanted. We made defensive mistakes that led to easy baskets by Poland. Great game by A.J. Slaughter and Mateusz Ponitka, they were both in great rhythm and hard to stop." - Patrik Auda, Czech Republic

"This is not the way we wanted to start the EuroBasket. We disappointed all the fans that came. But it's just a start, we have four more games, I believe our guys can come back. We decided this morning that Tomas Satoransky would start the game, and that we don't want to give him more than 15-20 minutes. For sure, we missed him, but we must give him rest. He's not 100 percent, but he did his best to be ready, it's amazing. I didn't use him in the end of the game, even though the game was close, because of his injury, he needs his rest." - Czech Republic coach Ronen Ginzburg

 

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