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Ukraine with a huge motivation

Dominican Republic will insist on fast basketball and will pay a close attention to Jeter, whom their top player Garcia knows very well. Ukraine have the advantage in terms of quality and in terms of national pride over things happening in their country

Dominican Republic are definitely one of the enigmas on this tournament. They're the type of team that anything can be expected from but their ups and downs seems like the only constant. We saw them at the FIBA Americas where they beat Argentina by 20 points, which goes to show how dangerous they can be, but they were defeated by Venezuela the following day, which shows they can lose against anyone as well.

The situation was the same in friendlies ahead of this tournament. They beat Puerto Rico then lost against Chalon, they beat Kentucky and then lose against them by 12 points. It just seems as if they don't know what to expect from themselves. Their coach might be their biggest asset as Orlando Antigua is an assistant to great John Calipari in Kentucky, which means that he has a firm control of their tactics and his statement ahead of this tournament is crucial:

- We will focus on the things that we've been doing so far - team game, strong defense and using speed in the transition. That's the profile of our team and we have to play a fast game and strong defense without any fear.

That was the way they played in early August at Centrobasket in Mexico where they beat Costarica 85-47, Panama 71-57, Jamaica 73-68, Cuba 76-72 and 75-66, and lost only 1 game against strong Puerto Rico 73-78.

The team is lead by their NBA shooting guard Garcia, followed by solid Cuadrado, excellent Feldeine, forward Baez and 210-cm tall center Eloy Vargas. This is a team with many solid three-point shooters, a team capable of playing a faster game even though most of their games go into lower figures.

Rebounds are a problem as they were among the last teams in this department at the Centrobasket. Antigua reflected on that:

- Our group has teams that are ahead of us in term of height and power and we have to make up for that with speed. We are facing a strong opponent right from the start but we have done a good scouting and I think we're ready. 

It remains to be seen how good their scouting was. We heard another thing from this domain from their NBA player Francis Garcia:

- They have an excellent point-guard Jeter who played with me in the NBA. He's very fast, offensively-oriented and we are particularly preparing for him. But the rest of their team is also very good and it won't be easy for us at all.

Garcia emphasized the positive atmosphere in his team:

- We are all breathing as one, the atmosphere is great, the coach has done a great job at leading us and we can't wait for the tournament to start.

It's interesting to note that Antigua and Fratello are good friends and know each other well, which gives this game and additional flare.

The Ukrainians had a disastrous start of the preparations with 6 consecutive defeats but as they wore on, coach Fratello found better and better line-ups and their game got more convincing. It's worth noting that they were plagued by injuries of Gladyr and Pustovy during the first part of the preparations but they later recovered.

Ukraine's games were marked by low-scoring games, which suits their roster with tall and strong centers. All of this results in a great defense against whom even the mighty Spain were unable to score over 71 points.

Ukraine have a peculiar situation at this tournament. They've achieved great success by coming here, but they can't completely enjoy it because of the war that goes on in their country, which is something their power forward Natyazhko mentioned ahead of this tournament:

- It's not easy to concentrate on sport in these conditions but it has to be an additional motivation. It's important to do our best to bring some joy to our war-torn country.

This sense of national pride will be a huge strength for the Ukrainians. Their game will be orchestrated by Jeter who fits great into this team. The back court also involves a terrific shooters Gladyr and Lypovyy, but their biggest strength is their paint where they have lots of tall and strong players and they can cause major problems for many teams in that area.

Considering the fact that the Dominicans are among the weakest teams in the paint, this will definitely be a battle of different styles. Ukraine will try to impose their slower tempo in which defense should dominate the game. On the other hand, the Dominicans could use speed to cause problems for Ukraine but the fact is that the European team are still the favorites in this game.

The logic of this bet is pretty clear. Ukraine play a very slow basketball which is no wonder considering their squad with lots of tall, strong players. During the preparations, they went over this margin only twice - by 1 point against Canada and against the ridiculous Philippine squad. Today's game is something else, the first competitive game and Ukraine are in for a tough task. Dominican Republic are not a world superpower but the team is very strong and athletic with several extraordinary individuals like NBA player Garcia. Even though their coach has emphasized they will have to keep things faster, that will not be possible against the slow Ukrainians. But what's important is that the Dominicans have done a good scouting of Ukraine. They know that stopping Jeter will be their main task and if they do that, Ukraine won't go over 70 points here.