Defeat of the Dragons against Finland

The Bosnia and Herzegovina national basketball team suffered a defeat in the 1st round of the second stage of qualifications for the 2019 China World Cup.

The chosen ones, of the new coach, Jasmin Repeša, were defeated by Finland after 40 minutes of play with a score of 85:81 (22:14, 21:20, 27:15, 15:32). Our team was not helped by the fact that Jusuf Nurkić and Džanan Musa were in the team, while Finland played without its biggest star Lauri Markkanen. Our team was cost by a terrible performance in the first three quarters, while in the last part of the game the Dragons showed great basketball, but failed to avoid defeat.

Our team started the match well. First, Jusuf Nurkić scored for 0:2, and after him, Almir Hasandić scored a three-pointer to give our team a 5:2 lead.

After that, the Finns took the lead and it was only a question of by how much they would beat our team. Coach Repeša tried to catch up with the lead the hosts had by changing the starting five and the game system, but our guys looked clueless and failed to threaten the Finns, and their lead grew bigger and bigger with each minute.

The halftime score was 43:34.

The Finns started the second half better and won the third quarter of the match with a score of 27:15, so at the end of the third quarter, they had a 21-point lead. The score was 70:49 in favor of the hosts.

In the last part of the match, our team played outstanding defense, we scored good points in offense, but the Dragons could not come back and in the end, the Finns celebrated a very important victory.

The most effective players for the home team were Sasu Salin with 27 points and Petteri Koponen with 14. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jusuf Nurkić scored 20 points, while Džanan Musa and Elmedin Kianović added 15 and 14 points respectively.

Jasmin Repeša's chosen ones will play against the Czech Republic in Skenderija in the next round. The match is scheduled for Sunday at 8 PM and will be played in the "Mirza Delibašić" hall.