First round for FIBA European Qualifiers was really a fantastic finish after all national teams perform their very best in representing their country's basketball. Eight teams were not lucky enough to proceed to the next level where they were not able to perform better performance in the group brackets that they belong. Eliminated teams include Belarus, Sweden, Kosovo, Romania, Belgium, Iceland, Austria, and Great Britain.
Now after determining the top 3 qualified teams according to each group bracket, they are now on round 2 process where it will determine the final 12 teams that will able to qualify for the FIBA World Cup 2019. Currently, teams that have gone undefeated throughout the elimination process are Germany, Lithuania, and Greece.
Those teams have really shown how competitive they are when it comes to the international tournament. What really interests me is that Germany has really improved their performance where originally they ranked 22nd but there might be some revaluation after the Qualifiers and World Cup. I would be expecting that Germany will make it to top 20 for next year.
Germany defeats Estonia
It was really an impressive run for Germany after they won against Estonia with 86-43. The results just show how Germany improved much their basketball team and that they have now a strong lineup against other participating national teams. Germany has really worked more on their defense giving Estonia hard to penetrate while they have shown their excellent field goal scoring.
Now that Estonia failed to win on their first game, they need to win on their succeeding games in order to catch up on the rankings or else they will not able to qualify for a World Cup entry. Both Germany and Greece who are still undefeated but will face each other for two set of games after both of them are grouped in the same bracket.
Their upcoming matches will measure to which of them will hold the top position and it will be interesting to watch. Even if one of them will be defeated in their two games but won on the other teams, they will still secure their entry to the World Cup.
Lithuania win against Croatia
There had been a close match between teams Lithuania and Croatia where they had some exchange of leading scores on second until the final quarter. Croatia has still shown their speed and their dominant rebounds but Lithuania working hard effectively on field goal shooting. There had been some series of second-chance points for Lithuania as well as points generated from turnovers.
There had been a series of points coming from the bench of Lithuania where we have really utilized effectively their bench players. Eimantas Bendzius of Lithuania lead his team with his 16 overall points and that we will be expecting more of his impressive performance on their upcoming matches. Let's just see if Lithuania will able to hold the top and prove that they could dominate the very end of European Qualifiers.
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