Team USA and Australia Aren’t the Only Medal Contenders out There

If not for Croatia’s Bojan Bogdanovic and Dario Saric, Brazil would be Thursday’s feel-good Olympics basketball story—a 2-1 darling working off consecutive upsets with a clear path out of the preliminary round.

Alas, Bogdanovic and Saric brought Brazil’s underdog run to a screeching, and potentially permanent, halt during Croatia’s 80-76 win in Rio on Thursday. The duo combined for 48 points on 15-of-27 shooting, including a 6-of-11 showing from deep, at times carrying Croatia to the brink of a runaway victory.

Bogdanvoic absolutely exploded, tallying an Olympics-high 33 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists. Croatia was content to stick him in weak-side isolations and get out of the way—and he delivered, just like he has for his entire stay in Rio, per Hoop Magazine’s Josh Eberley:

Bojan Bogdanovic is All-Olympic first to this point.

— Josh Eberley (@JoshEberley) August 11, 2016

Saric finished with a balanced 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block. Though he was sloppy with the ball (six turnovers), particularly in the second half, he came up big down the stretch. 

On one sequence in the fourth quarter, he stuffed a streaking Marcus Vinicius Marquinhos at the rim, caught the ball and threw a Kevin Love-like touchdown pass to Bogdanovic for an easy two. His Olympic play has given enduring Philadelphia 76ers fans a reason to wax (perhaps unattainable) optimism ahead of next season, as Bleacher Report’s Alec Nathan dutifully noted:

Just talked myself into 35 wins for the Sixers because Saric made a three and a putback layup so yeah today is going great.

— Alec Nathan (@AlecBNathan) August 11, 2016

Except, Bogdanovic’s and Saric’s offensive takeovers almost weren’t enough for Croatia to squeeze out a win. Mario Hezonja (six points, two rebounds) faded as the game wore on, and guards Krunoslav Simon (three assists) and Roko Ukic (four assists) were more concerned with setting up Saric for open threes than keeping everyone else not named Bojan involved.

Even after Croatia went on a 10-0 run midway through the third quarter to extend their lead to 14, Brazil kept coming, piecing together enough stops to remain within striking distance.

Marcelo Huertas was once again masterful, finishing with 10 points and nine assists. His incessant dribble penetration threw Croatia’s defense out of whack and helped Augusto Lima (11 points, six rebounds) and Marquinhos (12 points, three assists) secure some easy buckets.

Brazil’s mid-game tweaks on pick-and-rolls allowed them to claw their way back. Whenever the roll man was doubled or cut off, Huertas would find a sleeper near the baseline, who would then look for an orbiting shooter behind the arc—a calculated adjustment that gave way to some timely threes in the fourth.

Indeed, their ball movement was good enough to break down Croatia’s defense. The shooting just wasn’t there until the final frame. It took their leading scorer, Leandro Barbosa, 18 shots to get his 16 points, and Nene (2-of-10 shooting) missed a ton of looks around the rim.

That offensive inconsistency damned Brazil to defeat, torpedoing a golden opportunity. At 1-2, their chances of advancing into the quarterfinals aren’t moot, but they don’t look especially promising.

Nigeria and Spain, whom Brazil beat on Tuesday, were the only Group B teams to enter Thursday’s play without a victory. The latter’s rough stretch isn’t supposed to continue. Spain hasn’t look good by any means, but their first two losses came by a combined three points. There’s still a chance they win out and regain control of their own fate.

Argentina (Saturday) and Nigeria (Monday) remain for Brazil. They, too, are now staring down a scenario that demands they win out—no small, let lone likely, task considered the continued scrappiness of Argentina’s aging core.

Croatia, meanwhile, has to be feeling pretty good. The gauntlet part of their schedule is over. Neither …

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