EUROBASKET 2011

Croatia look to get offensive production from others than just Bojan Bogdanovic

Croatia v Montenegro - Saturday at 21:00 (20:00 CET)

Both Croatia and Montenegro will be looking to bounce back from second day losses when they lock horns in Group C after the rest day.

Croatia have struggled in their two games so far, giving head coach Josip Vrankovic plenty to think about at both ends of the floor.

Defensively, Croatia have not made big plays on a regular basis. They haven't really applied ball pressure either individually or collectively and consequently have failed to deliver a sufficient number of steals to really make a difference.

This is despite possessing the reasonable perimeter quickness of guard duo Dontaye Draper and Marko Popovic while they also have some big men with really nice hands.

Offensively, they have mixed things up but have generally relied on the sharp shooting of Bojan Bogdanovic to bail them out. He did so against Finland but his last gasp triple attempt didn't get them out of jail against F.Y.R. of Macedonia last time out.

As they try to get back on the right track, Croatia will have to do so without shooting guard Marko Tomas who suffered a serious hamstring injury in Thursday's defeat against F.Y.R. of Macedonia and was ruled out for the rest of the tournament. He is expected to be sidelined for up to two months.

Meanwhile, Montenegro have already experienced the contrasting emotion of winning and losing in the Final Round with center Nikola Pekovic insisting they can improve if they learn from what has happened so far.

"When we managed to build leads of four or five points against Bosnia and Herzegovina we allowed them to come back far too easily," he said.

"It's important for us to learn from our mistakes and improve from what we have learned during these first two games."

It was a sentiment very much echoed by head coach Dejan Radonjic and he will be hoping his team can pick itself up form a first ever loss on the elite stage.

Certainly they can at least take some comfort from having one of the form players of EuroBasket 2011 so far in Vladimir Dasic.

He currently has a tournament double-double of 17 points and 13.5 rebounds per game.

Head to Head: This will be the first meeting for the teams at EuroBasket Final Round.

Last Time Out: Montenegro were beaten 94-86 by Bosnia and Herzegovina while Croatia lost 78-76 in dramatic fashion against F.Y.R. of Macedonia.

Key Match-Up: The extent to which Luka Zoric is able to nullify or at least contain Nikola Pekovic in the paint could have a big bearing on this game.

Key Stat: Croatia have averaged a meagre 3.5 steals per game so far, one of the lowest in the tournament, a stat compounded by the fact they are one of the worst teams at turning the ball over with 18 per game.

X-Factor: Croatia are a team who seem to have difficulty closing out games and this could be a big factor yet again if Montenegro are in the hunt heading down the stretch during the closing minutes.

Sounding Off: "We played badly during the last three minutes against F.Y.R. of Macedonia and it's the second time we have played like this. We are just not playing with any kind of rhythm" - Croatian head coach Josip Vrankovic.