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Orenga: Croatia has grown since the opening

Even though Spain embarrassed Croatia in the opening game of Eurobasket, everyone agrees it won't be the case today. Croatia will be poised to win because they haven't seen a medal for years, and Spaniards are used to playing big finals, so, in a way, this is 'beneath them'.

The bronze medal match between Croatia and Spain offers two opposing views. While everyone expected Spain to win the tournament, few were those who saw Croatia in the second phase of the competition. It all reached another dimension after Spain trashed Croatia 68-40 in the opening match  of the tournament. No one could predict at that point that these two teams would meet again in the medal macthup.

No one but Croatia's head coach Jasmin Repesa who waited for this game even though he hoped it would be the final.

- I literally told my players ahead of the semi-finals: Give me a chance to play once again against Spain. Now that we know how the other semi-final went, you may say that they lost only to satisfy my desire but it would be an injustice if we did not get another chance to play against Spain. We owe it to our fans and ourselves, we have 40 minutes left in this championship to leave the right image of the Croatian national team.

In semi-final against Lithuania, things went wrong from the start because defense failed to show up. Later on Repesa explained that his players were mentally and physically worn out:

- The match with Lithuania was exhausting both emotionally and physically so we really needed this day off to recover. We have only four healthy players at the moment because Markota was also injured yesterday and probably won't play on Sunday. - Repesa said.

Markota suffered a sprained ankle and in his own words, won't play for a week, which means he is lost for today's game. It'a major setback as Croatia is now left only with young Saric at that position and it remains to be seen if that  will be enough against Spain. Despite the embarrassing loss in the opening match, Repesa doesn't seem to respect Spain as many others do.

- Spain's matches are not based on tactics. It will be more important to stay focused because their offensive concept comes down to small details. Gasol one on one or pick-and-roll, Fernandez's open shots.

What is obvious from the start is Spain's problem with fatigue and mind. The teams that managed to take them in the clutch came away with wins. Gasol's physical condition doesn't allow him to play the entire game on a high level, and when he starts to lose his focus, so does Spain.

- We need to remain in the game for all 40 minutes because they lost every game in the clutch. I do not know if it was because of fatigue or something else, but we need to prolong the suspense. And we should not trust that they are not motivated to fight for bronze. They are players with character that will want a medal.

The atmosphere in the team has changed greatly from the one ahead of their first clash. They are all as one, they obviously clicked and as Draper pointed out there is no fear ahead of today's match.

- We have 40 more minutes to repay our fans for the support they've given us so far. There is too much at stake to talk about fatigue and we don't need an alibi. - said Croatia's team captain Ukic.

He is one of those players who will need to improve their performance as he failed to impress both against Lithuania and  in the opening match against Spain. Ukic owes a lot and if he fails to deliver against Spain today, there isn't much hope for Croatia.

As far as tactics is concerned, Kruno Simon offered an interesting view:

- Our chances will grow if we manage to control them. We saw against France that they weren't brilliant against a zone defense. There woould be nothing we would enjoy more than to beat Spain as they are arrogant and think so highly of themselves.

Spain is the other unexpected contender for the bronze medal, but only because everyone saw them in  final and winning. However, Tony Parker trashed their hopes  and sent them to the bronze medal matchup. It will be demotivating for the team who was accustomed to gold medals, but Calderon claims they will have their motives.

- It was a tough loss in the semi-finals but we still have a chance to go home with a medal and it will motivate us highly. I believe both teams are better than in that opening match so I wouldn't look back.

28 point difference and only 40 points scored deserve to be mentioned again as it was the match where Croatia was embarrassed like never again in the tournament. They couldn't find the answer to Spain's aggressive defense and Ukic couldn't take Croatia past that wall. However, Croatia has grown in form since and everyone believes it will be a completely different game. Even Spain's head coach Orenga:

- It will be a diffrent game from the one in  the opening round. They are playing much better, they've grown, they won eight games after losing to us. We'll have to prepare that game thoroughly.

First of all they will have to prepare psychologically because Spain is accustomed to much more than  fighting for the bronze and motivation could be the issue for Orenga:

- The loss against France did affect us, but this is a team of winners and we'll bounce back. If you can't win the title, the bronze medal is also a success. - said Orenga.

Undoubtedly, Spain has a better side which could make all the difference with aggressive defense. However, Croatia can't put up another poor performance like the one in the opening round and if they manage to play the way they did for the most part of the tournament they could take the game in the clutch, where apparently everyone wins but Spain.

Tomić is perhaps our biggest disappointment of the Championship. We saw very little from a player that was supposed to carry our center line, and considering the player he is supposed to be dueling with today, I doubt he will manage to surpass his limits. Marc Gasol is the best defensive player of the NBA, and has stopped much stronger and physically more dominant centers than Tomic. Ante is too soft in the duels, we could see that clearly both vs Ukraine and vs Lithuania. Gasol will move him away from the rim and deny him the easy shots, and Tomic was pretty bad from the semi-distance during this championship. He also has a very low percentage from the free throw line, another of his downsides. In the first game of the championship, Tomic scored only three points vs Spain, with 1/4 from the field and 1/2 from the free throw line. More passes should go to Saric today, as Spain is weaker on his position and I don't believe Tomic will score more than eight points.

With Markota's injury Saric is the only one left from the Croatian "four". He might might play longer because of that, although he already played 20 minutes per game. Saric is not tired since he is the youngest player in the team and is used to playing 40 minutes per game.
Today's match should suit him since the Spanish are weak on his position but perhaps the crucial thing is that the Spanish have Marc Gasol who Tomic can't attack but will instead focus on assists which Saric can take advantage of.
This margin is low and results in just three successful shoots. In a match in which hell get more time on the ground and with an opponent that suits him, Saric is in an obvious over.