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Mirza Teletovic continues to struggle as Bosnia goes down 2-0

By Net Income
Bosnian Basketball Federation

Unless Bosnia turns things around quickly, Mirza Teletovic will be freed from his international commitments early next week.  After being upset by Latvia Wednesday, the Bosnian club lost to a Eurobasket powerhouse --and Bosnia's big rival -- Serbia, 87-77.

Mirza Teletovic scored 16 points, but again shot poorly.  He shot 5-of-15 --after going 8-of-17 vs. Latvia-- including 1-of-6 from downtown. Teletovic looked good early, hitting a tip in, a three and a short jumper to give Bosnia a 10-6 lead, but after that it was all downhill against the powerful Serbs led by former Nenad Krstic and point guard Stefan Markovitz.

The Bosnians need to finish third in Group B competition to advance to the next round.  Right now, they are 0-2 in the Group and still must face Montenegro, Macedonia and Lithuania, none of whom are pushovers.

Meanwhile, in an interview with FIBA Europe's Rob White, Teletovic talked about the value of his first year with the Nets, understanding how to deal with not being a top player.

"For me it's important to know both sides of basketball and when you are not playing you know how to behave, to practice harder and work, visualize and improve your skills and to personally improve yourself," he said. "I think I have improved a lot of things, especially mentally, which is very important."

Meanwhile, Bojan Bogdanovic recovered from his tough first game, helping Croatia eke out a win over Georgia, 77-76. Bogdanovic scored 15 points, on 6-of-13 shooting, including 2-of-3 from deep. He also was credited with the turning point of the game. Two minutes into the final quarter, Bogdanovic intercepted a pass, darted down the court to put Croatia back in the lead with a spectacular dunk, 57-56.  Darius Saric, the top young player in Europe -- and a long time Nets fan, went 6-of-6 for Croatia. Croatia next plays Poland.

In the coaching competition, Mike Fratello's Ukraine is undefeated and Joe Prunty's Great Britain kept it close with Eurobasket favorite France, getting to within three at one point in the second quarter until Tony Parker and company took over.

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