PUR - Barea: “Croatia, Germany, Greece and... we’ll see”

ATHENS (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men) - The first round of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament has come to an end and Juan Jose Barea, the point guard of Dallas Mavericks and the Puerto Rico National Team, comments on the four quarter-final games.

Croatia vs Canada

“I think that Croatia has the upper hand. It is a better team, plays great basketball and is full of confidence now that they beat us.”

Slovenia vs Puerto Rico

«This game is hard to predict. Slovenia possesses some fantastic perimeter players, who together with Nesterovic forge a very powerful team. We’ll have to keep our concentration throughout the game, to play great team defense and control the boards. If we want to prevail, we have to play as a team.”

Germany vs Brazil

«I definitely vote for my buddy Dirk (Nowitzki). He is the best player in this Tournament and he is going to carry the team on his shoulders. As the Brazilian defense will focus on him, the Germans will have to be effective on their long jumpers. For, most of the shots will be uncontested.”

Greece vs New Zealand

Greece has more quality as a team, plays in front of its crowd and won’t face any difficulties.”

When asked about the First Team of the Group phase, Juan Jose Barea replied

“I would like the whole roster of the Greek National Team and this selection would ease my head. You may choose any five of them and there would make no difference at all. If though we had to exclude the Greeks, I would opt for Nowitzki (Germany), Splitter (Brazil), Arroyo (Puerto Rico), Tomas (Croatia) and Huertas (Brazil)....

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