Croatia suffered 1st defeat at Rio Olympics

There were so many fans dressed in blue and white on the stands that the match between Argentina and Croatia looked like it was being played in Buenos Aires, and not in Rio de Janeiro. In that kind of atmosphere, the boys coached by Aco Petrović got defeated by very motivated Argentine crew.

Croatia suffered their first defeat at the Rio 2016 basketball tournament after losing to Argentina in the 2nd round of Group B. The key period was the third quarter, which Argentina won by 27:14 and increased their lead to 73:54!

Still, there was some more excitement in this match, as Croatia opened the last quarter with 13:2 run and reduced the gap to 75:67. There was some hope that Bogdanović, šarić and Co. could make a similar comeback like in the 1st round against Spain, however one famous basketball maestro did not let that happen.

Manu Ginobili. Argentine superstar scored one free throw, while then he made a 3pts shot and returned his team to a safe distance.

Croatia did manage to reduce the margin to 85:81, with only 1 minute left on the clock, while they also had had a chance to approach even closer! Krunoslav Simon had an open 3pts shot on 30 seconds before the end... He missed, Argentina made a rebound, while the referees gave two technical fouls to Croatian team because of protest... It was over.

Olympic Basketball Tournament, Group B, Round 2, Wednesday, 10.8. 2016: