All it takes is a little foul trouble to get Goran Dragic off his aggressive game, and Slovenia lost by 22.
Chauncey Billups induced a couple of backcourt fouls on Dragic through a combination of his veteran wiles and Dragic's over-aggressiveness. From then on, Goran was hardly a factor. He finished with 7 points on 2-for-8 shooting, 4 assists and 2 rebounds.
Frankly, Slovenia looked mentally overmatched from the start. It doesn't help when your 2-time Euroleague MVP and backcourt mate barely shows up for the game. Who is this guy, really?
Anyway, on a positive note, Dragic made some nice passes but his teammates refused to make any shots, even the ones that were open (which was rare). In my opinion, he was not outplayed by the opposing guards (Rose, Westbrook, Billups). Kevin Durant and Kevin Love were the big difference-makers.
What's your take on the game?
[Note by Seth Pollack, 08/29/10 2:45 PM MST ]
Turkoglu meanwhile, is shooting a lousy 27% (6/22) over 60 minutes in 2 games. He leads his team with 10 assists. Hopefully, he's just warming up in these early games.