Butterfly effect: Netherlands defeat Croatia, head to FIBA EuroBasket, help Turkey advance
ISTANBUL (Turkey) - There will be no drama on the last gameday in Group D. Oranje overturned a 13-point deficit against Croatia, booked a ticket to the FIBA EuroBasket and pulled Turkey along.
ISTANBUL (Turkey) - There will be no drama on the last Gameday in Group D. Oranje overturned a 13-point deficit against Croatia, booked a ticket to the FIBA EuroBasket and pulled Turkey along with them.
Netherlands picked up a 65-57 win over the previously unbeaten Croatia. Earlier in the day, Turkey defeated Sweden 88-80, giving them the tiebreaker in that matchup by a single point, and once the Netherlands took down Croatia, we had all the answers needed from this group, even with a game in hand: Croatia, Netherlands and Turkey are the three teams to advance to the FIBA EuroBasket 2022.
Turkey got a 24-point, 12-rebound double-double from their teenage sensation Alperen Sengun, who outgunned Sweden's legend Jonas Jerebko (21pts, 6-of-8 from three-point range), setting up the stage for Oranje to do their part.
Turning point: Croatia led for all but 16 seconds over the first 29 minutes and 59 seconds of the game. It was only on a Charlon Kloof's buzzer-beating three-pointer - his only made triple in six tries - that the Netherlands took the lead at the end of the third quarter, and the entire momentum switched to the guys in orange jerseys. Maurizio Buscaglia's men held Croatia to 9 points in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback from -13.
🎯 @CharlonONEKloof in his feelings for @OranjeBasketbal 🇳🇱!#EuroBasket pic.twitter.com/N3CKOOvX0Q
— FIBA EuroBasket (@EuroBasket) February 20, 2021
Game hero: Yannick Franke spent a part of his club career in Zadar, Croatia, but had no mercy for the opponent on the night. He finished with a team-high 15 points, while getting a lot of help from Keye van der Vuurst de Vries and Olaf Schaftenaar who combined for 20. In a low scoring affair like this one, 20 felt like 40.
Stats don't lie: The aforementioned big three came off the bench for coach Buscaglia, giving the Netherlands a 42-18 edge in bench points. More than enough to finish strong and with a lot of energy in this one.
Bottom line: Croatia still lead the group at 4-1. Netherlands stand tall at 3-2, Turkey are up to 2-3 and cannot be caught by the 1-4 Sweden.
They said:
FIBA