LATVIANS LEAVE GB WITH MULTIPLE QUESTIONS
Great Britain were hammered 74-51 by Latvia on Saturday in their final friendly before EuroBasket tips off.
And it was a terrible display from Chris Finch’s men who looked lethargic defensively and lacking in coherence in their offense through the tie in Jelgava.
The hosts, who are also headed for neighbouring Lithuania this week, traded leads in the opening quarter but went ahead on a 6-2 run.
With Finch admitting his basketball side lacked energy, Latvia opened up a 38-26 cushion by half-time and their visitors simply folded.
Up 56-41 going into the final quarter, a 12-3 start ended any prospect of a fightback as GB – led by eight points apiece from Joel Freeland and Eric Boateng – faded away.
And Robert Archibald, who added seven in his first start of the summer, knows Britain will need to raise their game to escape EuroBasket’s Group of Death when they face the Lithuanians in Wednesday’s opener.
“We feel pretty unfortunate that we’re in a group with three of the top eight in the world,†said Archibald.
“There are other groups where I believe we would have come first or second. But we just have to go out and see what we can do and try to come in the top three.â€
Bulls forward Luol Deng had just 7 points and 6 rebounds.
Roland Freimanis went for a game-high 14 points and 8 rebounds.
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