On Days Like These – GB defeat Israel 75-71 in OT
There’s the easy way, the hard way and then there’s the GB way…
Sometimes you wonder why you put yourself through the punishment of following the Great Britain men’s basketball team at EuroBasket tournaments because they have this frustrating habit of pushing you through the emotional wringer; looking as if they might get a much-needed win, only to suffer more and more heart-breaking defeats.
That is until you get to days like today when they pull off a win against a team they weren’t really fancied against, defeating Israel 75-71 after overtime in their opening game of EuroBasket 2013.
That’s our reward as fans for sticking with the team throughout a difficult period which saw Luol Deng, Joel Freeland and Pops Mensah-Bonsu decline to take part and a new coach in Joe Prunty, whose appointment was widely criticised.
Finally, there was a poor warm-up campaign that did nothing to alleviate fears that Great Britain would be returning home winless.
But while this may be a pretty weak GB team on paper – they could still end up losing all their remaining games – what we saw against Israel was the epitome of a team effort.
Kyle Johnson led all scorers with 22 points and Kieron Achara enjoyed a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds, but it was an all-round team effort that got the job done; guys working hard for each other at both ends of the floor.
We have this underdog mentality in Britain and perhaps that’s what endears us to this GB team. We don’t expect much, but we’ll still go into every game hoping they can come away with a victory.
Great Britain took the lead early in the first quarter and what impressed me was how long they held on to it, responding every time that Israel threatened to tie or take the lead.
But once Israel finally wrestled back control of the game late in the third, it looked as if we were in for another heroic failure. And in the fourth, with under two minutes remaining and a six-point advantage for Israel, it should have been done and dusted.
However, GB never gave up and the battling qualities of this team can’t be ignored as they forced overtime, with Andrew Lawrence making the crucial free-throws to keep his side in the game.
Yet at the same time, Israel did not do themselves any favours as they piled up missed free throws and made some decisions at the offensive end that had you scratching your head and wondering if the coach had lost the plot, or if his players weren’t listening to him.
I know what you’re thinking and it’s along the lines of who cares, GB won. Well, you should care because most teams won’t be that poor when executing at the offensive end.
Great Britain may have started slower in the overtime period, but in the final seconds they closed out the game perfectly. Kyle Johnson, who was superb all game, drove to the basket for a nice lay-up off the glass to give GB a 73-71 lead and Drew Sullivan’s steal and subsequent free-throws secured the victory.
France are up next and unless they are in a charitable mood, they will be far more ruthless and efficient, and Great Britain can’t afford to have another 18-turnover 27-foul game.
I would expect France to easily deal with GB on Thursday, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be tuning into ESPN at 8pm, hoping that our boys can cause the mother of all upsets…
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Photo Credit: FIBA Europe Castoria Wiedensohler