GBR - Ten observations from Great Britain vs Czech Republic + game highlights

LONDON (EuroBasket Qualifying) - Great Britain beat the Czech Republic 87-68 at the o2 Arena.

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1. Deng had a quiet night.

Anyone who thinks this was the case, even remotely, is guilty of showing up their basketball ignorance, I'm afraid.

This is not the NBA where the franchise guy gets his 30 and 10 every night, regardless. This is international ball and it does not matter whether he gets 30 points or 3. It's his overall contribution that counts.

The Czechs spent so much of their game plan focusing on Luol in the first half that it enabled his team mates far easier looks than they would otherwise have had.

Once they went away from that game plan as the game wore on, Deng was able to explode for 20 second half points.

Deng could have finished with ZERO points and he would still have played a key role just by being in the gym.

2. No television.

This never ceases to amaze me. No TV deal for any of our home games? If you analyze that, this is a staggering state of events.

In this day and age of what seems like 153 round-the-clock dedicated sports channels in this country, we cannot find one that will take these games?

Here is a sample of what was on some of those sports channels the day after the O2: motocross, beach volleyball, beach soccer, World Superbikes, masters football, surfing, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (whatever that is), British Rallycross, Gaelic football, the iShares Cup (sailing), Aussie rules, UFC, Aussie rugby league ... and a FIBA Basketball magazine programme! (It's true, Setanta 2, 7.30pm).

I know the arguments about why this hasn't happened - production costs. No TV company is going to pay the £40,000, or whatever it is, to send an outside broadcast unit to film a basketball game.

But are you telling me there is not a business model or way out there to make this happen? How does the iShares Cup get on TV? Can't GB basketball get on in the same way.

Of course, Sky are not going to send trucks full of HD camera kit to film a basketball game but I note on the British Performance Basketball website (btw, is our federation even called that any more?) that we have some blue chip, high-profile sponsors.

And we couldn't enlist their financial clout, sponsorship or advertising money to make it happen?

3. Nate Reinking vindicated.

Nate Reinking will ALWAYS get a pass here at 24/7 for that last minute three that avoided defeat for us in Albania two years ago.

So the Israeli defeat was all the harder to swallow as Nate was in the thick of us throwing the game away down the stretch.

Saturday? 22 points was his response and said everything about the man.

4. Robert Archibald back in the fold.

Sidelined with a knee injury, the big Scot could have stayed in his Malaga base, topping up on his tan and getting to know the local tapas scene.

Instead, he braved the British weather to fly over a support GB at the O2.

With Andy Betts sat out injured, it was tempting to imagine being able to add the European experience of those two - not to mention Ben Gordon in the backcourt? - to next summer's GB team.

5. The crowd.

Long time since I've been in a 7,000-plus crowd at a British (non-NBA) game ... great effort, everyone.

6. ... But ...

What was happening with the scoreboard issues? What a shambles.

Once we went to two five-minute mini-quarters in the second period, confusion was bound to reign and, sure enough, we had the farcical situation of the shot clock being on 16 and the Czechs being hit with a violation even though there were actually five minutes left in the quarter.

The Czechs clearly had not understood exactly what was going on - nor had I - and they reacted with a lot of class when they were unfairly robbed of a possession.

Would like to have seen the reactions of Coaches Finch, Nurse and Garbelotto if the boot had been on the other foot!

7. A little respect.

I may be reading too much into this, but to me, the Czechs looked beaten even before tip-off on Saturday.

And their body language and the errors and fouls they made certainly made you think there was no way back once GB got their noses in front early.

Here's my take on this. The view at home is different because a) Brits are naturally cynical and b) it all seems to good to be true ... but this GB programme has rapidly earned a lot of respect, fear even, around Europe.

Deng helps with that, of course, but European coaches and players also know Mensah-Bonsu, Betts, Archibald, Freeland and every team we face knows that, at the very least, we are going to be more athletic than they are.

I think we now have a psychological edge over some of these teams and the Czechs, to put it crudely, bottled it from where I was looking.

I think that's especially true in Britain. Remember, Finch has coached six games at home now and his BBL All Star team of 2006 is the only one to have lost a game - and that an unfortunate defeat to Belarus in Sheffield where Roger Huggins had a shot at the buzzer to win the game.

8. Stats.

In case you missed a box score, here are a couple of points worth mentioning:

* GB block 10 (yes, TEN) shots. Three from Pops Mensah-Bonsu who also had 16 boards
* Deng only goes 8/14 from the line - the one area of the game where Deng did deserve some criticism.
* Joel Freeland has 9 points, 3 boards and 2 blocks ... in 14 minutes! I call that productive.
* The Czechs shoot 30 per cent from two-point range.
* We lead from buzzer to buzzer.

9. Israel downed by six.

What a way to end a great night for British basketball. I was walking out of the O2 at the same time as Luol Deng and Eric Boateng and their reaction to hearing the result from Bosnia said everything.

The only annoying thing about this, of course, is that had we won in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, we would have a grip on this group and one foot in Eurobasket 2009.

There are eight games left in this group and, I suspect, a few twists left yet. But things sure are heading in the right direction.

10. Oh ... £20 for parking

At the risk of sounding like a grandparent ... 20 quid for parking your car?
When I drove in, I assumed that included entry into the O2 Arena. I know this is one you cannot pin on British Basketball, but jeez ... somebody do something about that!

Ian Whittell
Basketball247.co.uk