Croatia blows by Lithuania, led by Bojan Bogdanovic

Bojan Bogdanovic expected Wednesday's friendly vs. Lithuania to be a tough game, friendly or not.  As the Nets swingman said, Lithuania was a "candidate for the podium" in Eurobasket, meaning a team capable of winning it all. And the game was played in Kaunas before a full house of Lithuanian fans.

Instead, Croatia crushed Lithuania, running a defensive clinic in the first half, allowing the perennial European power only nine points in each of the first two quarters and spending most of the game up by 20 or more points.  In the boxscore, the margin was only 13, 72-59, but it was never close.  Croatia in fact dominated the four-team Huawei friendly tournament.

Bogdanovic led Croatia with 12 points, shooting 4-of-11 from the field, including 2-of-6 from deep. He also grabbed five rebounds in limited minutes.

The 6'8" swingman is the dominant player in the Croatian offense, acting more as a facilitator than a small forward. He will often bring up the ball and make the first pass. He drives the lane, fills it on the break, posts up down low and shoots from both mid-range and from deep .

Here's highlights from Tuesday when he scored 25 against Turkey...

Bogdanovic is also one of the team leaders.

Games like this one show how important great teamwork is. I'm proud of my teammates, now let's work even harder, #EuroBasket2015 is coming!

— Bojan Bogdanovic (@44Bojan) August 19, 2015

Croatia is now 6-0 in friendly --exhibition-- games and is increasingly seen as a contender for the Eurobasket crown. The national team now has off for a week, returning to Zagreb, the Croatian capital. In the meantime. Andrea Bargnani will play three games in the Adecco Cup in Koper, Slovenia, starting Friday.