by Jim SLATER
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — If anyone doubts 22-year-old Croatian power forward Dario Saric is ready for the NBA, just ask two-time NBA champion Pau Gasol.
Saric smacked away a potential game-tying inside shot by the San Antonio Spurs center at the final buzzer to seal his homeland’s 72-70 upset of second-ranked Spain on Sunday in a Rio Olympics preliminary round opener.
Saric signed with the Philadelphia 76ers last month after seven seasons in Europe and is expected to help revive a once-mighty NBA club fallen on hard times.
“This kid is the next big thing,” Croatian team captain Roko Uric said. “In Croatia, everybody thinks he needs to win the gold medal all by himself. That last block shows a whole lot of character.”
Saric called the block “the cherry on the cake” of his team’s upset triumph and spread the praise throughout his teammates, who rallied from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter.
“We are young and we are hungry,” Saric said. “We were so hungry to beat them and start the tournament good. Even if we started the first half very bad offensively, I’m proud of this team.”
Bojan Bogdanovich of the NBA Brooklyn Nets scored 23 points to help spark Croatia.
“Bojan played unbelievably good on offence and defence and this is good for all of us,” Saric said. “I’m proud of them because they showed the character. We can say we stole the two points.”
Saric scored five points, grabbed seven rebounds and passed off five assists.
“Saric equaled everything with that great block on Pau Gasol,” said Croatia coach Aleksandar Petrovic. “The kid has no fear of anything. He does so many little things that makes my team so much better.”
Players can feel the difference in their confidence down the stretch in a tight game.
“It’s a big thing for us because we’ve been losing these kind of games for such a long time,” Uric said. “But this team has a different attitude and different mentality.”
Spain’s Nikola Mirotic, a Chicago Bulls power forward, was impressed in his team’s first meeting with Saric.
“He’s a great player. He had a great game,” Mirotic said. “He’s an NBA player. He will do great there. He’s a winner. It was exciting to play against a guy that talented.”
Saric was hoping the poise and character Croatia showed will win some encouragement from Brazilian fans.
“Maybe the people from Brazil don’t know so much about Croatian basketball and Croatian players, but they see how we fight, they see how we play with our heart,” Saric said.
“Half of the gym started to support us and that’s a nice thing.”
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