Meet Doncic: Israel’s next rival

Mundobasket Qualifiers 21-22

Game board

Cycle 6 – 03/07/2022

• Germany
• 83 – 93
• Poland

• Israel
• 66 – 85
• Estonia

ONE System | 03/07/2022 21:28

Garden throws for three (Itzik Blanitzky)

The Israeli team did its thing when it qualified for the second round of the Mondobasket qualifiers. Although Guy Goodes’ team has not yet finished its game against Estonia, thanks to Germany’s victory over Poland, it has certainly secured its place in the next stage.

In the second stage, Israel will play against Germany and Estonia, who continue with it from the first house, when they will be joined by third house teams – Slovenia, Finland and Sweden or Croatia, with the final decision being made in Croatia’s game against Finland. From the second stage, to which the balance is drawn from the first stage, three teams will advance to the Mondobasket.

Slovenia is of course the proud European champion and the fifth best team in the world according to the FIBA ​​ranking. The Balkans have won four games in the early stages and boast NBA star Luka Doncic, the Guard Dallas Mavericks who is considered one of the best players in the world. Other well-known names on the roster are brothers Goran and Zoran Dragic, both of whom have moved to the best league in the world while Goran, the older of the two, currently plays for the Brooklyn Nets.

Luka Doncic (Reuters)

If Croatia moves up, the Israeli team will meet ex – Maccabi Tel Aviv, Ante Žižić, who played in Israel for the past two years before moving to Andulo Zero. Croatia also play center Los Angeles Clippers Ivica Zubacz, Utah Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic and Onyx Kazan forward last season Mario Hazonia.

Finland, which has so far experienced an excellent tournament with four wins and a single loss, will be led in the next stage by Uri Markanen. The Cleveland forward played only one game in the first leg, but did so impressively with 22 points and 11 rebounds against Sweden. Another player worth noting is Sasso Salin, guard of the Tenerife Champions League, who scored 13.2 points and averaged 4 rebounds per game in the first round.

Laurie Markanen vs. Thomas Bryant (Reuters)