Today, at 23:00 Tbilisi time, on the “Zlatogor Arena” Celje, is planned the important match for Georgian national team. The apprentices of Igor Kokoshkov will play against Slovenia in the 3rd round of C group of EuroBasket. And in case of victory they will reach the opportunity to go through the next stage.
It’s a matter of course that apprentices of Bozidar Malkovic, who perfectly defeated Spain last round, are not going to compromise. This victory was celebrated during 2 days in Slovenia. And as for the team, they do not feel any euphoria. -------------
It is a long time, that I am in basketball, but I have not seen such thing. Amazing sparkle was coming from the tribunes and this added more power to our boys. Our rival was also surprised by our fans. I can say that our victory is also merit of our fans”.
In view of the fact, that I saw activeness of Slovenian fans in the hall, I agree to the head coach. The local fans made really great impression. “Zlatogor Arena”, which contains about 5 thousand fans, has not stopped even a minute, and at last it became like an active volcano. I want to say that our boys will be able to pass a really difficult exam. The opponent is strong and it will be supported also good.
As for the game moments. As we mentioned above, Malkovic approaches the match against Georgians very seriously and you can find out from his comments that he respects his rival. After the initial 2 meetings, where the apprentices of Kokoshkov showed high level basketball, everybody respects our team, though, before the tournament, “experts” of “FIBA-Europa” were awarding 24th place to Geogian basketball players….
“We should not relax, if someone thinks that after the defeat of Spain, we will have an easy walk against Georgia, they are mistaken. We observed our rival in test matches and they played on excellent level. The case is not only in result, Georgian team showed itself also well in the lost games”, - noted Malkovic.
And how the head coach of Slovenia estimates Georgians previous matches? “You have seen that Georgian national team won easily over not very weak Poland, and against Croat they defeated at the last minutes. When you held such 2 matches, this is not only accidental. Our trump in defense must be a good play. If we act in the same way against Georgia as we did against Spain, we will have more chance for success.”
In the next match, if Georgian team should be careful with someone, it must be Goran Dragic. Basketball player of “Phoenix Sanz” was incomparable in the match against Spain. Goran did not appraise himself, but he underlined his last victory.
When you defeat European champion and when this team is of Spain, it is impossible to watch this without emotions. That’s why, I was not surprised by our fans, who almost entered in the stadium at the end of the game.”
Of course, Dragic underlined also the meeting against Georgia. “Such victories contains dangers, now it’s important not to relax. We just won 2 meetings yet and the main part of European Championship is ahead. Georgia is very dangerous team and besides this Igor Kokoshkov knows me well. I was practicing in “Phoenix” under his command for a long time.”
Hopefully, the head coach of the Georgian national team learnt the Slovenian leader.
By the way, the Slovenians highlighted fighting ability of the Georgians. The article of Jurnal proves it. Next to the interview of Vladimer Boisa, there is the comment of veteran Slovenian basketball player Dusan Hauptman who held 15 games in the national team. He says:
“I can say only compliments toward the Georgians. They are like Bulldogs. They fight with teeth. I want to warn our boys. Georgian are very dangerous opponent”.
Dato Manjavidze, special correspondent of www.worldsport.ge from Celje
