Dario Watch: Suns combo big shines for Croatia in pre-Eurobasket competition

With the official start of the 2022 FIBA EuroBasket looming, Phoenix Suns big Dario Saric helped Croatia finish the exhibition period 2-2 in the first competitive action he’s seen since Game 1 of the 2021 NBA Finals when he tore his ACL against the Milwaukee Bucks:

• 98-68 win over Bulgaria
• 83-95 loss to Czech Republic
• 84-64 win over Hungary
• 88-94 loss to Slovenia

The national squad also played in a couple pre-qualifiers for the 2025 EuroBasket, which they finished 2-0:

• 72-69 win over Poland
• 84-53 win over Switzerland

...finishing August a combined 4-2 with their first real game of the EuroBasket coming on Fri. Sep. 2 against Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece.

As for Saric’s team context, Croatia has one of the most vast collections of NBA talent in the EuroBasket field:

• Ivica Zubac — LA Clippers
• Bojan Bogdanovic — Utah Jazz
• Karlo Matkovic — draft-and-stash for New Orleans Pelicans
• Mario Hezonja — Portland Trailblazers as recently as 2020
• Jaleen Smith — Phoenix Suns Summer League in 2021

Saric played well in all six games, averaging 10.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists on shooting splits of 39.2/33.3/81.0 and looked healthy as ever, including a slimmed-down, quicker body that he used to attack closeouts more frequently than I’ve ever seen while wearing a Suns uniform (to varied success).

Game 1: 98-68 win over Bulgaria — 10 points (1-3 2P, 1-2 3P, 5-5 FT), 4 rebounds, 2 assists in 11 minutes

Game 2: 83-95 loss to Czech Republic — 5 pts (1-7 2P, 1-3 3P, 0-0 FT), 7 rebs, 2 asts in 14 min

I think if Saric ever tried this pull-up three out of a between-the-legs dribble in an NBA game I’d freak out from excitement. The audacity of this man:

Game 3: 84-64 win over Hungary — 9 pts (3-6 2P, 0-2 3P, 3-4 FT), 1 reb, 3 asts in 18 min

Game 4: 88-94 loss to Slovenia — 18 pts (3-5 2P, 4-7 3P, 0-0 FT), 6 rebs, 1 ast in 25 min

Game 5: 72-69 win over Poland — 9 pts (3-5 2P, 0-4 3P, 3-6 FT), 6 rebs, 6 ast in 28 min

Game 6: 84-53 win over Switzerland — 13 pts (2-4 2P, 1-3 3P, 6-6 FT), 7 rebs, 2 ast in 19 min

All games during the group stage will be streamed from the Mediolanum Forum in Assago, Italy on ESPN+, and we’ll have coverage of each game here as soon as possible for our non-subscribed readers and non-early risers. Here’s the full schedule for the group stage:

• Fri. 9/2 8:00 a.m. — Croatia vs Greece
• Sat. 9/3 5:15 a.m. — vs Great Britain
• Mon. 9/5 5:15 a.m. — vs Estonia
• Tue. 9/6 12:00 p.m. — @ Italy
• Thu. 9/8 5:15 a.m. — vs Ukraine

If Croatia finishes group play in the top 4 of Group C, then they move onto the knockout round: