We finished the first part of the tournament with a score 5-3 and on 30th place. The two most recent games were played against England
(74349) at home, and against Pakistan away
(74379).
Before the start of the tournament, the game against England was considered to be one of the most crucial games for us. But with the outcome of prior games, it was not as important anymore, because our qualification to the playoffs was more or less secured, however we didn't have chances to finish in the top 16 anymore. For England, this game meant quite much, since they wanted to remain on the very top of the table, so it is no surprise, that they went into the game with a lot of effort.
Their desire was evident especially in the first quarter, when they quickly gained some lead and outplayed us by a wide margin (30-19). They didn't stop in Q2, when the gap rose to a very depressing -22 for us (50-28). Fortunately we managed to improve offensively and got a little bit closer by half-time (58-42).
First minutes of Q3 didn't indicate our comeback, as the difference remained at approx. 15 points for the first five minutes. Then it got better, as
Lasse Lundell scored for 71-62 six minutes into Q3. A couple of minutes later it was already 71-66 and we were back into the game. We needed a couple of minutes to beathe and England managed to get a couple of points further, but after some consolidation we managed to break the 10 points barrier again and finished Q3 with a three-pointer from
Finn Egghall for 87-82.
Start of Q4 was again a little troubling for us, and our guests again increased the difference above 10 points. Not for long though, some well played actions got us back to where we wanted before the final minutes. A good minute to go, Lundell scored for 108-104 and we desperately needed to be successfull defensively. Thanks to a missed free throw from
Jonathan Kemp, our success was 50%. Lundell then got us to 109-106, and a few seconds later
Jack Stjärna collected a defensive rebound. There were only 11 seconds left on the clock, we called time-out as we needed a three pointer to get us into over-time. Five seconds to go, Lasse Lundell, admittedly the man of the evening, tried but missed. However
Tommy Fyhrhult hustled for the offensive rebound, passed to Finn Egghall, but again, it was a miss. Afterwards we fouled, England scored one more point from the free throw line, and the game was over.
No big deal though, let's save the success in nail-biting games for some other time
Afterwards, we just needed a win against Pakistan, which was, until recently, one of the worst teams in the BB world. However, they have a very experienced manager at the moment, and their results improved quite a lot, so there was a little bit of nervousness before the game. Indeed, the first quarter was very tight as Pakistanis lead most of the first 12 minutes. We managed to take the lead just at the end of Q1, and got to +10 by half time. Afterwards the difference in quality finaly emerged and we increased the difference to +47 by the end of the game.
At the end, this placed us to 30th position, and we only improved by 2 places after that significant win. Unfortunately this matches us with Slovenia, a team I managed for 14 seasons and a team, I really didn't want to play against, since I really wish them/us all the best. But eventually it was bound to happen. On the plus side, I know the team and players very well. On the negative side, I know we are not (yet) at their level. But of course we will do our best and hope for a surprise.
So, again I ask for a special care on the players' minutes, since we really need everyone at their best. Now every succeding game will be the most important game of the season, so if somebody can affort GS training, even better. Many thanks for your dedication so far, we had some problems, but in general our GS is very good
