Croatia hang on by a thread in Group D; Netherlands steal tie-breaker

ZADAR (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - After three duds to start their FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers campaign, Croatia finally got off the mark in Group D with an 82-78 victory against the visiting Netherlands in Zadar.

Both teams are now tied at 1-3 in the standings, but Toon van Helfteren's side will take consolation in the fact they were able to maintain a potential head-to-head tie-breaker after winning the first duel 68-61 in Rotterdam.

Turning point: Determined to make things right, Croatia made it known early they meant business, running away to an early 15-point lead already in the first quarter. However, they needed a 12-3 in the closing minutes of the game to hold off a Dutch comeback that had put Croatia's superiority in jeopardy.

Game hero: A bold performance by Zeljko Sakic was what it took for the home side to come away victorious in Zagreb. The 29-year-old big man nailed some massively important three-pointers in the fourth quarter to put his overall tally at 22 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

Stats don't lie: Although Croatia kept it relatively tidy on the offensive end with just 11 turnovers, they still managed to concede 17 points in transition, while only mustering a single point in fast breaks themselves.

Bottom line: The maiden victory of the campaign turned slightly sour for the hosts in the closing minute of the game, with the Netherlands going on a 6-0 run in the final 35 seconds of the game to turn an unfavorable 82-72 scoreline into just a four-point loss.

They said: "This is probably the end of my run with Croatia. I am aware that the results weren't good, but I just feel bad because we could've won that game on Friday (against Romania), and even the first one against the Netherlands. We no longer depend on ourselves, we need to see what the other results in the group would be like in June-July. I am not running away from my responsibility, but there were a lot of things that didn't go our way. Rok Stipcevic didn't play a single second in the Qualifiers because of an injury, we tried to get Marko Popovic to play today, but he was ruled out, and some of the players that we were counting on cancelled on us in the first window." - Croatia hed coach Ivica Skelin.

FIBA