Ainars BAGATSKIS: “Poland is playing the right basketball”

Head coach of the Ukrainian national team Ainars Bagatskis He shared his expectations from the 1/8 final match of EuroBasket against Poland.

“I told the team that Poland is an experienced, big and smart team. They don’t play with surprises, they play true, sometimes hard basketball. They often play at the expense of the opponent’s gifts and take well what is given to them. In a match with them, the important thing is discipline, consistency and aggression. This opponent is physical He understands the language of basketball.

The absolute leader of the team is, of course, Mateusz Ponitka, who plays in the first point position in the national team and does it from time to time in the club. A combogard that can easily cover positions from first to third. Then there is the American defender Slaughter, who has been playing in Spain for many years. Also noteworthy are Balcherovski and Sokolowski. All of them play in the strong leagues and the other players are experienced, smart and know their place in the team. The three-point percentage of the four players is about 40%.

We look normal in terms of physical condition. These five matches in the group round required a lot of energy and we lost to the Croatians due to some misunderstandings in defense. Getting almost 90 points against Croatia, a big, aggressive team, is invaluable.

For me the last part of EuroBasket is nothing new, it’s great that we did it. We are close to the best teams, players and coaches in Europe.”

Ukraine – Poland match will start on September 11 at 13.00.