Luol Deng fails to save Great Britain from first-round exit in FIBA EuroBasket
Despite of two incredible performances by Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng in the last two games of the first round of FIBA Eurobasket, Great Britain failed to proceed to the second phase of the contest. Britain lost their first three games to Spain, Turkey and Lithuania and that too by big margins.
By beating Poland, they in fact paved way for Turkey to sail into the second round after beating the tournament favourites and defending champions Spain.
Deng, which many in NBA consider a work in progress case, pulled off a 31 points – 10 rebounds performance on Sunday night as Britain defeated Portugal by 85-73, at the 2011 Euro-Basket at Cido Arena in Panevėžys.
After the historic win, the first in Deng’s career, he said
“I will always remember this win as it is my first at a EuroBasket; I think we showed today that we have a great future ahead of us.'
For them to qualify for the second round, the British team needed to beat the Poles by 58 points on the next night. However the game ended at 88-81 in their favour. Deng was again exceptional against Poland. He tallied 28 points along with 14 rebounds and six assists during his stay on the court. Deng’s team-mate Joel Freeland supported him well by contributing 27 points during the game. 14 of Joel’s points came in the crucial last quarter, which decided the game.
Britain finished fourth in their group, but was able to retrieve some pride because of Deng in this highly competitive basketball competition. With these performances, Deng has showed that his importance will be paramount for the British hopes in this game, come the 2012 London Olympics. Deng was also pivotal in Chicago Bulls last regular season campaign, in which they topped the league. He was also pivotal in the Bulls only win against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals.
GB coach Chris Finch was optimistic after the wins and showered praise on Deng. Happy with his team’s performance, he said that achieving the two wins at EuroBasket has given them a solid pedestal to advance further.
“I've just told our guys that I'm extremely proud of how they played today and all week. Our aim after the first three games was to win both remaining games. We played very well against a Poland team who've impressed all tournament.”
Tags: