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Next week we are facing Switzerland, a very decent opponent of similar quality. I expect a much closer game, although we are coming into the match as slight favourites.

No giveaways pre-game in their forum im afraid (I live in Switzerland and is in that forum aswell). Maybe they are using discord also? :)
Jokes aside, their team is probably still weaker, though they have some good 25-27y/o coming up.

Funny, I am currently in Switzerland as well, although I sense no huge disappointment after their yesterday's loss

So, yesterday we managed to beat Switzerland (72451). The game was a bit more dramatic than the end result suggests.

Start of the match was not easy for us. Although Tommy Fyhrhult scored the first two points of the match, Swiss took the initiative afterwards and soon got to a nice lead. After 8 minutes, the score was 17-7 for the Swiss. We were forced to take a time-out (never a good sign, if your team takes time-out first), but still didn't manage to come back within the first quarter, which ended with 26-18.

We improved our offense significantly in the second quarter, and after six minutes Petter Börjesson tied the score to 35. We kept our momentum and got ahead to 48-43, but the opponent finished the first half better, and the score was once again tied at 52.

Third quarter was the decisive one, we were better from the first minute, although our captain Fyhrhult was injured at the very beginning. Slowly but steady we increased the point difference. After five minutes, Markus Andersson, man of the match once again, increased our lead to +10, and we didn't let the Swiss closer to 6 points afterwards. The quarter ended with 85-75.

We still needed to keep our pace in the final quarter, but the team showed discipline and didn't let the point difference get any lower than 10 points. Anders Strandblom scored for 104-88 five minutes to go, and the victory seemed very close. Although the Swiss quickly replied with a three pointer, that was all they could do, and we further increased the difference at the end of the match.

Final score was therefore 113-93, Martin Andersson was once again our best scorer (by far) with 35 points, and Petter Börjesson was the main power under the basket with 15 points and 16 rebounds (8 of them in the offense).

The difference between the two teams was mainly due to our superb game shape, and I really mean superb - 8 of 12 players were in GS=9, very rarely can this be seen in the second week. So kudos to all owners I can only hope for similar GS in the upcoming weeks. We are facing progressively better opponents, first Russia, then Belgium, and Poland afterwards.

Once again I invite you to discord, which is growing steadily

Cool , which part are you living in?
Hooper in real life also?

I was living and working in Zùrich for a while, but now I am just visiting some friends from back then, and am in the Alps (Graubunden) for holidays You?

But no, I dont play basketball much (had to google hooper ), I got invested in BB during the basketball European championships 2013, which was hosted by Slovenia and was very hyped (although no medal for us ). Otherwise more of an outdoor sports guy, maybe more of a scandinavian type

Cool, I live in St Gallen (rheintal) but go sometimes to Graubünden, mostly cross country skiing, we never have enough snow where we live. Slovenia is nice, was once in Ljubljana and it was superb. And a good Bball team
Also, quite impressive for such a small country. Only negative is Doncic complains too much to the refs, even if he does gets fouled a lot 😅

Legendary Slovenian footballer Sebastijan Cimirotić, was not only known for his proficient dribling skills, but also for his disoriented statements. A few noble examples are: "My knee hurts on my leg", "I would like to thank my parents, especially my mom and my dad", and "I'm often self-critical, especially to myself". Our game against Russia can be summarized with one of such his statements: "That night was not our day". We lost 124-113 (72455).

We started a game with our common lineup: Lundell, Fyhrhult, Andersson, Bokholt and Dallius. Except... I can only guess I got distracted during holidays and confused Tobias Bokholt with Petter Börjesson , who should play on PF. What can I say... There are no excuses

Although Bokholt on PF made some sense offensively, our defense was greatly compromised, and I'm afraid that was the main reason for a loss, which could have been a nice upset victory over higher ranked opponent. We started the game quite well, mostly we were leveled with Russians in the first quarter, and even managed to secure a minimum lead 30-28 after the first twelve minutes.

In the second quarter, our pace even improved, three pointers from Fyhrhult and Bokholt yielded an eight point lead. Afterwards, Russians managed to come back, but we stayed in front until the last three minutes of the first half. These were the dark times, Russians went 14-0 on us, and took a lead by 9. Result was 67-60 after half time.

A few encouraging minutes in the beginning of the second half were quickly forgoten when Georgy Rankov scored over Bokholt for 80-68, breaking the psychological 10 point difference barrier. We managed to get back below, but didn't manage to completely close the gap, and after three quarters, the result was 92-82.

During the last twelve minutes, we struggled to make a come back, and we were quite close. Three minutes to go, Frank Jonasson scored for 105-98, and one attack later, Finn Egghal made both free throws for 107-100. But Russians were merciless with their attacks, and we just couldn't come any closer. When Abram Umarov scored both free throws for 116-107 less than one minute to go, it was more or less clear, that we won't turn the score, although Lasse Lundell managed to score a three pointer for 116-110. Afterwards, our desperate attempts were not successfull, and we had to congratulate Russians for their victory.

What can I say... That stupid mystake of mine could have been the decisive thing in this game and this really sucks. We still have many games to play, so nothing is over yet. We face two strongest teams in the group next, first Belgium, than Poland. Hoping for a miracle

Tried to join the discord channel, but says the invite is invalid or has expired?

https://discord.gg/xZNmX6jdX7

This one should work now

Last Monday we faced Belgium (72460). The match can be summarized as "close, yet far". Belgium proved to be a stronger opponent, and even our efforts with higher attitude were not enough.

We started the last week with somewhat mediocre game shape, especially our big men had noticeable problems. Still, our starting lineup remained almost the same, with Lundell, Giltorp, Fyhrhult, Börjesson and Dallius on the starting five. Despite our higher attitude, Belgians quickly took control of the game. After five minutes, Rodolphe Cox throwed down a "powerful two-handed dunk in the crowd", and the score was already 11-3. We couldn't turn the tie of the game, and the difference between the two teams increased slowly but steadily. The maximum was reached right at the end of the quarter, when the score was 28-15.

We demonstrated a better performance in the second quarter, although never managed to get particularly close. Tobias Bokholt brought us back within 10 points (48-39), but a strong finish of Belgians distanced them even two points further at the half-time (58-43).

It seemed that the match was decided soon after the start of the second half. After two minutes, Chris Desmet scored for +20 (66-46), and soon afterwards, the difference was already +25 for Belgians. Their superiority ended a few minutes before the end of the quarter, but it seemed, that they just stepped off the gas, and steadily controlled the game.

However, soon after the beginning of the last quarter, the Belgian coach started calling timeouts in panic, although the match seemed to be over. Always a good sign for the opponent (us). Indeed, our attack started performing much better, first Giltorp scored for 103-84, a few minutes later Fyrhult made a three pointer for 109-95 with five minutes remaining. A minute later Bokholt scored another one for 109-98, and another minute later, Lundell got us back in the game (111-102). Although time was running out, our hopes were still high when Markus Andersson scored a three pointer for 113-107 90 seconds to go. Unfortunately, Belgians managed to get back to +8, and even if Lundell once again got us closer, we didn't really manage to break the barrier. A few desperate three point attempts were succesfull, but Belgian players reliably scored their free throws.

At the end, the final result 127-119 gives a much more optimistic image of the game than some in-between scores. In any case, we have to admit that we are quite far from the level of Belgian NT - at the moment. But the goal is to come closer.

Today we face Poland, a game, where our hopes of victory are minimal. Later comes dangerous Scotland - they beat Switzerland in the last round quite surprisingly with lesser attitude, and finally Portugal, which still remains in the competition for 2nd place after their win against Russia. However, Poland and Belgium seem to have the best cards at the moment.

Two different games in the last two weeks:

Previous Monday we faced Poland, which turned out to be much stronger opponent, as expected (also due to higher entusiasm and better game shape) (72463). As for the first match against Wales, not much to say about the game, since the winner was decided before the half time. Even though our defense was somewhat decent, thanks to 2-3 zone and inside prediction, our attack was completely sterile. Once again patient offense turned out to be very bad, but for the lack of other options, we used it with desire to loose less than with higher paced tactics. Probably it would still be better if we played something else, but it wouldn't make much of a difference.

This Monday we faced Scotland (72467). I anticipated their all-in attack (meaning their crunch time), since their last game is against Poland. They have shown some very good games recently, being a strong opponent against Portugal, and beating Switzerland, so we had to be careful. The game was somewhat chaotic. Our starting lineup was Gilltorp, Egghall, Fyhrhult, Börjesson and young rookie Matthias Nilsson. First six or seven minutes were more or less even, but then we took the initiative, and managed to get to +10 by the end of the quarter.

However, in the second quarter Scotland managed to get closer, the closest score was 42-40. Luckily, we finished the first half stronger, setting the result to 49-42. In the second half we again got to +10, and it seemed, that the game stabilized. We were in front 78-66 after the third quarter, and even lead 95-76 five minutes to go. But, similarly as in our game against Belgium, Scottish players started to fly around the court, scoring three three pointers in less than a minute. When Peter Lyle scored another three for 98-92 1:30 to go, we were in a slight panic. Luckily, opponent never got any closer, and our guys were solid at the free throw line, so we managed to get back to a more secure lead. But the game indeed turned out to be quite difficult.

Our last game of the tournament will be against Portugal. They beat Poland this week, although they had to play crunch time in order to achieve this impressive win. So currently, Poland, Belgium and Portugal all have scores 5-1 and fight for the first two positions. Poland is not in danger, since they will beat Scotland easily, Belgium plays against Russia (who will most likely attack with a CT), and Portugal needs a win against us with their lower enthusiasm. So the game will be very decisive, we have an advantage in enthusiasm, and they have an advantage in quality. It would definitely be nice to conclude the championship with another victory