Lorbek and Slovenia finished 7th at the 2011 EuroBasket.
San Antonio Spurs affiliate Erazem Lorbek and the Slovenian national team maybe out of their bid in 2012 London Olympics, but that doesn’t mean they would conclude the 2011 EuroBasket with their heads bow down.
Playing against Serbia for the 7th and 8th spots in the tournament, the Slovenians made sure they’d finish with grace.
Slovenia started the game strong, leading 27-20 after the first quarter and held a 44-39 advantage over Serbia at the half.
In the third quarter, the Slovenians poured it on, outscoring Serbia 20-12 in the period to stretch their lead to 13 points going into the fourth quarter.
However, Serbia made a furious rally in the final period holding Slovenia to just eight points in the quarter while scoring 17 points on their own end, but it came up short as Slovenia held on for a 72-68 victory, and finished the EuroBasket at 7th place.
Houston Rockets’ Goran Dragic led Slovenia with 21 points, while Lorbek finished with eight points, five rebounds, three assists and one steal in 23 minutes of action.
Kosta Perovic had 13 points and five rebounds for Serbia in a losing effort.
Nice finish by Lorbek and Slovenia, wish they finished 6th place for a second chance at the 2012 Olympics.
The loss to host Lithuania booted them out of the top six spot and a chance to compete at the second chance qualifying round. So they failed in their mission for their Olympic hopes, but Lorbek certainly showed he could be a serviceable big man in the NBA, don’t you think?
Lorbek and Slovenia ha dnothing to be ashamed of they played in a tough tournament and even surprised a lot winning their first three games in the Eurobasket if I remembered it correctly.
Lorbek has showed solid all around game and good basketball instincts but I think he’s going to have a tough time guarding NBA bigs.
Robby;
Agree, Lorbek could possiblily ride the bench as a Forward. He is big enough, and smart enough to play his natural position. Forwards don’t need to be atheltic most of the times just smart and take up space for what SAS would ask of him. Daniel07 I think he could adjust and surprise many people for example Fab was a surprise to me when he came to SAS, always seem to be around the Basket at the right time.
The problem is, Lorbek already signed a contract with Regal FC Barcelona to play there for at least one more season.
Ramon Esteban was right, Lorbek is under contract with Regal Barcelona so a buyout has to be done if the Spurs are really interested in his services. Also Lorbek has to decide if he really wants to pursue an NBA career and join the Spurs much like what Tiago Splitter did.
The Spurs are in real need of a legit big man, while Lorbek is not athletic, I like his basketball IQ and toughness, that is not to say that he would be the missing piece of the puzzle but he could certainly improve the Spurs’ frontcourt depth.