GB Blown Out By Latvia in Final Warm-Up - Hoopsfix.com

GB Blown Out By Latvia in Final Warm-Up

Great Britain were emphastically out-performed as they lost 74-51 to Latvia in their final warm-up before they head to Lithuania for Eurobasket.

Great Britain were pulled apart by Latvia, as they struggled from beyond the arc (2/16), gave up a number of second chance opportunities, and couldn’t deal with the pressure, as the Latvians got open looks at the basket all afternoon.

Head coach Chris Finch recognised the team weren’t near their usual standard:

“We played really flat and paid for it. But all credit to Latvia, they played well. We had a chance early on to get in a rhythm but we weren’t able to get things going. We have a few days now to clean things up and then hit the court for real.”

GB were led by 8 points each from Joel Freeland and Eric Boateng, whilst Luol Deng, Robert Archibald and Andrew Lawrence added 7 each. Rolands Freimanis had 14 to lead Latvia.

The game started sloppy with both teams struggling to find the basket, however, they traded on the ones they did make, as Latvia held a slim 15-13 lead after one quarter.

Latvia opened the second quarter with a three, getting a stop at the other end before Bertans hit a rare four point play to give them their largest lead of the game so far, 22-13, just one minute into the period.

A Mike Lenzly three put an end to Latvia’s 7-0 run, reducing the deficit to 22-16 with just over 7 minutes left in the half, but that would be the closest they would get.

GB struggled with Latvia’s full court presure, whilst couldn’t stop them at the offensive end, as they seemingly got open look after open look. The frustration grew and cluminated in a Chris Finch technical foul jus before the half. Latvia led 38-26 at half time.

The break seemed to help GB as they came out with renewed vigour, at times showing what they were capable of. A short flurry of scores, punctuated by a nice pass from Ogo Adegboye to Freeland on the break brought them back within 8, promoting a Latvian timeout.

Freeland managed a tip in off a Kyle Johnson miss to put GB within 6, 45-39 with 3:30 left in the period, however from there on out it went drastically down hill.

Latvia went on an 11-2 run to finishin the period, holding a 56-41 lead going into the final quarter.

It was more of the same in the fourth quarter, as the Latvians emphasised their lead with a big putback dunk to stretch the lead to 66-43 with 5 minutes left. Finch emptied his bench, and the Latvians cruised to an easy victory.

Box score can be found here.
(Mistake on the box score-number 15, Matthew Bryan-Amaning is Ryan Richards, whilst number 8, Drew Sullivan is Kyle Johnson)

Notes

  • GB starters: Andrew Lawrence, Nate Reinking, Luol Deng, Joel Freeland, Robert Archibald.
  • Easily the worst performance from GB of this year’s campaign, and with Lithuania only days away, Finch must be concerned.
  • Overheard on the broadcast during a timeout: Chris Finch saying “”We are SO flat right now, we need some energy”. So true. This is the kind of game where Pops Mensah-Bonsu’s absence is really felt.
  • With Finch running the bench in the fourth quarter, every player on the roster saw at least 14 minutes. Dan Clark, as expected, sat out.
  • Finch has one more cut to make to the roster, and it is expected to be made in the coming days.

Did you catch the game? What did you think?

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