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In the first match of the season, we successfully defended against the attack from Belarus, who aimed for a win, but fell a bit short due to better tactical decisions from our side (75170).

We struggled with a poor game shape before the match. Roster in the first game of the season is usually a bit unpredictable, since there is a lot of variation between game shapes of important players. More than 50% of them are typically still at 7, while some reach high 8 or even 9, which is a really significant difference. Therefore, even lower quality players might come very useful. Such was also the case here. Our starting five was quite common, Hartsten, Fyhrhult, Häggin, Börjesson and Dallius, while our reserve lineup had some unusual names, such as Sabata Nkabinde (2nd appearance in the NT), Niclas Kihlsjö (first appearance), and a veteran Charlie Håkansson, who was also almost forgotten in the last two seasons. But he aged well and came useful for this match.

Belarusians still had higher DMI among their players, and played with a higher attitude, so I was very pessimistic when I scrolled down the tactical decisions. Start of the match was very even, and it was difficult to tell who profited more from their advantages. Neither team got any lead in the first quarter, we were in front for the most of it, but at the final seconds Belarus ended with an advantage of 30-28.

We started Q2 much, much better. Sören Häggin scored a very distant three pointer for our lead, 33-32. That amazing shot gave us some well needed self-confidence, and only 90 seconds later we were already ahead by 8, thanks to another three pointer from Sören. Our march didn't end there, we kept our pace, and yet another Häggin's three pointer got us to 51-38. We reached the highest advantage of +15 just a few seconds later. By the end of the half time, our concentration slightly lowered, and Belarusians managed to get a bit closer, with a half-time result of 60-50 for Sweden.

Thanks to the higher attitude, Belarus still threatened us in the beginning of Q3, with the closest result being 66-61. Afterwards, we got back to +10 and kept such lead until the end of the quarter. Strong beginning into Q4 got us to 98-81, but then the oponent woke up again and got to 109-103 with 3 minutes to go. Sabata Nkabinde then scored two important points, and later, yet again, Häggin scored a three pointer which got us to 114-105. Afterwards, the Belarusians lost some nerves, a flagrant foul was made by their guard Jagor Halinovich, and this effectively sealed the game.

I must say, I was positively surprised with the outcome, we showed real strength and managed to get a very decent result. Belarus was the first opponent of Slovenia in the last European championships, and it was quite a nervous match, especially until the half time (72505). With more parameters on their side this time, I must say the result is very promising. But random is a huge factor in BB, so not much can be judged from only one match.

Player of the match was, no doubt there, Sören Häggin, who scored 41 points, gave 6 assists, and collected 6 rebounds. Nine assists were also distributed from Roger Hartsten, who also demonstrated a nice performance and can take most of the credit for our high "offensive flow" rankings.

Next comes Spain, one of the two superpower nations in our group. They are the defending European vice-champions, but had a somewhat mediocre world cup performance. We will try to do our best, but it is no secret, that we will save some strength for later matches. Portugal managed to beat Italy thanks to the higher attitude, so this will make a battle for the top two spots even more interesting.



Last edited by Deschamps at 6/26/2024 6:17:45 AM

A lot of games have been played since my last report:

Sweden-Spain 96-130 (75172)

Quite expected defeat, since we previously had to play normal against Belarus, and therefore Spain had an advantage in quality and enthusiasm. We started the game strong, led 28-22 after Q1, but Spain turned the game around until the half time. Quite surprisingly, Frank Jonasson was our player of the match, he collected 17 rebounds and made 19 points with a superb FG 7-8.

Sweden-Austria 123-111 (75178)

An important game for us, since, according to quality and rating, Austria was our main rival in the group. Due to some problems with our GS, I decided not to risk too much, so we went CT into a game. Such fierce approach got us to a victory, but it was hard earned, since we managed to take the lead only in Q3. Afterwards Austria exhibited some very nice games, such as their tight defeat against Italy (75180), so they are of even higher quality than I anticipated. Finn Egghall was our best player with 31 points and 8 assists.

Sweden - Portugal 107-120 (75179)

After our win against Austria we were theoretically still in contention for the 2nd round. If we beat Portugal, us, Portugal and Italy would most likely be equal with 5 wins. But after our CT, this proved to be too much for us, and even another CT did not help us. We were very close in the first three quarters, but lost some ground in the final 12 minutes, and Portugal made a huge step towards the 2nd round (although they still have to beat Austria). Kristian Forsbratt was our best scorer with 17 points, but again Finn Egghall was statistically our best player, since he scored 16 points and also made 11 assists. Funny, that our entire starting five (Forsbratt, Egghall, Haggin, Dallius, Börjesson) ended a game with no more than 17 and no less than 15 points.

Sweden - Italy 75 - 118 (75183)

Due to our double CT in the previous two games, we knew there is no hope against strong Italy, and indeed the game was not very close. At the end, a 33 points defeat is even better than I predicted, but it doesn't matter much. Although low ent should hurt defense more, our FG % was less than 30%, and our 3 points were 1-25, which demonstrates the strength of Italian defense. At the end, Kristrian Forsbratt and Lasse Lundell were our best scorers with 15 points, but their FG were only 5-20 and 3-14. Our big duo, Petter Börjesson and Håkan Dallius wasted less attacks and were decent in rebounding, but to be fair, most of the desperate shoots went to our outside guys, which is why their FG% is so bad.

Sweden - Azerbeijan 126-95 (75188)

We could afford to loose so much enthusiasm since all of the important games were played in the first four rounds. I hoped, that even our rock bottom ent would be enough to get two victories against the lowest ranked teams, Azerbeijan and Wales. One down, one to go. ALthough our defense was not on a decent level, we still managed to utilize our quality and got a strong win. Sören Häggin led the scoreboard with 27 points.

So only a game against Wales remains, where I believe in another win. Currently we are 5th in the group with a 3-3 score, same as Austria. Our points difference is -29, while Austria has +45. But they still play against Portugal, who has to win, if they want to get into the 2nd round (otherwise it will be Italy). So we will see whether we will finish 4th or 5th in the group.