Fight the relaxation off!

After two games, it’s absolutely obvious that with the lone exception of USA, Russia is the team that impressed everybody the most here in London. And I’m talking about not only fans here but journalists and coaches as well.

David Blatt’s guys continue stifling opponents with their defense, forcing turnovers and running the spectacular up-tempo game. Many of Russia’s players score in double figures or close to it and everybody seems to have good attitude, both on the court and away from it.

Now, the following game against Brazil will be a challenging one, firstly because of the Splitter-Nene-Varejao frontline that’ll definitely put a lot of pressure on Russia in terms of rebounding and inside game. Without doubt, this is one of the most potent frontcourts of the Olympics, though to my mind the Spanish duo of Gasol brothers is still better – mostly because of Spaniards’ wide range of offensive skills.

Brazil had a very good game to open the tournament, but then slacked a little in what proved to be a narrow victory over Great Britain. I feel psychology is the reason here, they just underestimated their opponents.

Anyways, I still think that Russia’s depth and the fact that they have big guards who can bother point guard Marcelinho Huertas will eventually prove decisive. Kaun and Mozgov will do their job and Russia’s backcourt players will make life quite difficult for their Brazilian counterparts. Pressure defense will also come handy here. That’s David Blatt’s style and he’ll be using this weapon throughout the tournament.

So, it won’t be easy but I’m sure Russia has done its homework and will be ready for Brazil. They’ll just have to fight off a certain sense of relaxation that might come with two convincing victories.