Dorsey, Bogdanovic and Bjelica take center stage in Greece vs Serbia showdown
HERAKLION (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - There are plenty of reasons to watch Greece's home clash with Serbia when the Second Round of the European Qualifiers for the World Cup tips off on Thursday in Heraklion, Crete.
Chief among them will be the presence of Tyler Dorsey, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nemanja Bjelica.
When a fan has great talents like this trio to look forward to, Dorsey of the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings duo Bogdanovic and Bjelica, the tastebuds salivate.
The three will be making their first appearances in the Qualifiers. Bogdanovic and Bjelica are seasoned campaigners with Serbia and have done exceptionally well for their country while Dorsey, a start at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup three summers ago, has yet to play in meaningful games for Greece's senior team.
Both Serbians were in the side that finished runners-up to the United States at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 in Spain. Bjelica, 30, is four years older than Bogdanovic and has been in the national team setup longer. He burst onto the scene at FIBA EuroBasket 2009 in Poland when a young and precocious outfit coached by veteran Dusan Ivkovic was at the helm.
His all-round game helped Serbia the following year, too, at the World Cup in Istanbul. That Serbia team narrowly missed out on a Final with the USA and finished fourth. Bjelica was taken in the NBA Draft in 2010 but decided to wait before leaving for the league in 2015. He made the jump after a dazzling display at the FIBA EuroBasket, where he revealed himself to be a "Big Play Bjelica" of sorts.
Wow! Was für ein Spiel! Noch 3 Sekunden zu spielen. Bjelica eiskalt. #EuroBasket2015 pic.twitter.com/W6ELNHgKBW
— aleksandar (@zivanovic) September 6, 2015
An injury cruelly kept him out of Serbia's Olympic team in 2016 and he missed last year's FIBA EuroBasket in Turkey.
Bogdanovic was sensational last year at FIBA EuroBasket 2017, the team's leader. He played so well that by the end of the tournament, he was in the All-Star Five.
Bogdanovic just completed his rookie campaign in the NBA with Sacramento, where he and Bjelica will be teammates in the league for the first time next season. Both recently hung out together at the Basketball Without Borders Camp Europe in Belgrade. The young campers, many of them from the Balkans, were almost in awe of the duo.
Dorsey is a different story. He is as naturally gifted as any of the Greek players that have appeared in the Qualifiers and everyone will be expecting him to put on a show, as he did in Heraklion in 2015 while still in high school. He played for Greece that year when it hosted the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in Crete.
“IT’S DIFFICULT FOR THE PLAYERS WHO ONLY PLAYED BASKETBALL IN THE USA TO ADAPT QUICKLY TO THE EUROPEAN STYLE OF PLAY. TYLER IS A PURE SHOOTER. HE NEEDS THE TRUST FROM OUR SIDE AND EVEN THOUGH UP TO NOW THE OUTCOME IS NOT EXACTLY WHAT WE EXPECT FROM HIM, WE WILL BE WAITING.”
Dorsey set the tournament alight and had one of his best games against eventual champions USA in the Semi-Finals.
Dorsey has since played for the Oregon Ducks in college basketball, where he made the Pac-12 All Freshman team and also played in March Madness, even reaching the NCAA promised land, the Final Four. With the Hawks this past season, Dorsey played an average of more than 17 minutes per game.
Some perspective is required, though. Patience is needed because Greece play a style of game that California-born Dorsey will need time to adapt to.
It's something that Greece's coach, Thanasis Skourtopoulos, alluded to over the weekend when asked about the player.
"The meaning of his (Dorsey's) presence here, at this stage, is about keeping him close to the team and not to lose him," the coach said. "We will do that even if we have to pay the price for doing it. This kid is here with us, he has the desire and we are focused on how we can use him.
"The procedure will be slow. It’s difficult for the players who only played basketball in the USA to adapt quickly to the European style of play. Tyler is a pure shooter. He needs the trust from our side and even though up to now the outcome is not exactly what we expect from him, we will be waiting."
“WE BELIEVE THE CROWD WILL RESPOND AS BEFORE, AND EVEN MORE SO BECAUSE THE OPPONENT ALSO HAS A DIFFERENT WEIGHT. AND WE, FOR OUR PART, WILL LOOK TO BE 100 PERCENT READY FOR THE DIFFICULTIES WE'LL FACE IN THE GAME.”
More than anything, Skourtopoulos is looking for his team to get better defensively, and for the home crowd to give the players a lift.
"We believe the crowd will respond as before, and even more so, because the opponent also has a different weight," he said. Greece beat Great Britain, Estonia and Israel in Crete in the First Round. "And we, for our part, will look to be 100 percent ready for the difficulties we'll face in the game."
What really only matters for both teams is getting is to get the 'W'. Both sides are desperate to win, Serbia even more so since they lost twice in the First Round. They enter Group L play with a one game lead over Israel (3-3), who face Georgia (2-4) on Thursday. Only the top three sides in each of the four groups will qualify for the World Cup.
Greece are 6-0, at the top of the group with Germany (also 6-0), the side that beat Serbia twice in the First Round. The Greeks want to clinch their spot in next year's 32-team World Cup in China as quickly as possible, and the only way to do that is by winning games.
FIBA
