The hosts picked up their third win of the EuroCup campaign on Tuesday night
Slask trumps Hamburg to celebrate Polish Independence Day in style
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 7 of 18
Regular Season
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Slask WroclawWKS
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Veolia Towers HamburgHAM
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A rendition of the Polish national anthem was bellowed out by those inside Hala Orbita, accompanied by many Polish flags in the crowd. If Slask Wroclaw needed any extra motivation against Veolia Towers Hamburg, there it was.
Hamburg seemed intent on ruining the party in the first quarter, leading for most of the period and holding a 22-23 advantage after 10 minutes. Slask managed to wrestle back control and found itself 49-46 ahead at the interval, then 69-65 at the end of the third quarter before coming away with a 92-81 victory. All in all, a good night’s work for Ainars Bagatskis’s troops.
That win improved Slask’s record to 3-4 in the BKT EuroCup while Hamburg suffered a seventh straight defeat to start the season. Stefan Dordevic and Issuf Sanon sat on 10 points apiece at the half, while 12 of Jakub Urbaniak’s 17 points came in the third quarter. By the final buzzer, Sanon had 19 points, Dordevic netted 14, and Kadre Gray poured in 15.
All three of Slask’s wins have come at Hala Orbita this season, posting a 3-1 record there, and next week will see one of the EuroCup favorites come to town in Bahcesehir College Istanbul. For Coach Bagatskis, he still sees plenty of room for improvement.
“We know how to score, but we don’t know how to control that score when we’ve got the lead,” he told EuroLeague TV after the game. “In that moment, our decisions offensively are supposed to be better and smarter. No more, no less. And defensively, we must be smarter. For two days I am like a parent repeating the same things – we draw on the board, we show the videos three times, we walk in the gym and there’s the same mistakes.
“There is a saying, you know? If you want to be smart, you have to learn from your mistakes. If you want to be a genius, you have to learn from others’ mistakes. My wish is that we are at least smart.”
That much will be tested next week, but for now, Slask was able to give its fans a win to celebrate on Polish Independence Day.
