64 KK Zagreb-57 Dnipro
Zagreb features the best player in the tournament, as well as one of the best 1994-born players in the world, in Dario Saric.
Dnipro, a team from the Ukraine, had a tremendous physical and height
advantage over Zagreb, with centers that measured 6'10" and about 260
pounds, and 7'0" and approximately 240 pounds. Those two weren't
their only muscular athletes; it's apparent that Dnipro emphasizes
weight-training, as their entire team had impressive strength. For the
first five minutes of the first quarter, Zagreb, which brought a short
team that, save Saric, lacked offensive firepower after not bringing
promising 1995-born
Mario Hezonja,
depended entirely on Saric to generate and score on offense as well as
his 6'10" height on defense, where he essentially played center and
grabbed double-digit rebounds every game, including this one. Things
began to change after a timeout by Zagreb: ball-movement improved,
off-the-ball cuts became sharper, and Saric looked to become a
generator on offense, rather than the dominant scorer he easily could
have been. Zagreb definitively took the lead in the second quarter, and
essentially traded buckets the rest of the way. Despite never being
down by double-digits, Dnipro never seemed to be in striking distance.
Had they crept to within five or six, Saric would simply have taken
over. This situation never arose, enabling them to play team-oriented
basketball, with Saric encouraging his teammates implicitly by feeding
them the ball, and explicitly by vocalizing his approval with great
frequency.