Bokis diary Eurobasket 2009 #5

Now we are already in Maribor and we already have a few friendly games behind us. Games in Croatia were a good test of nerves for us. Both games were close and tough. We won both times and I was happy to see a huge crowd of Slovenians in the stands. Our fans are the best! Even though they were just friendly matches, I had a feeling that we played finals of some championship. Both teams really wanted to win. I said a lot of times that wins in the preparation period are not the most important thing. More important is how we play. We played much better in Croatia than we did in Spain where we lost three games in a row. It is true that we were tired from playing that many games in a short time and that due to injuries Vujacic and Udrih played with us for the first time, but that is no excuse. We wanted to bring home some wins and we failed. We were disappointed but there is no time to be sad. The tournament in Seville was a good chance for us to see some of the opponents that we will face when the championship starts.

After two days of rest we started practicing again, this time in Maribor. Unfortunately two players got cut - Zupan and Vujacic. But we are all looking forward for Smodis to return after the injury. Hopefully we will all finally be able to play together this weekend. We are looking forward to play in front of a sellout crowd again. This weekend we will face a solid team Bulgaria and one of the best European teams - Greece.

It is nice to return back to Maribor. I have nice memories of this city. I went to high school here and played for two teams - Branik and Bawaria Woltex. I bumped into some of my ex teammates and we laughed a lot when we were talking about the good old times. Maribor seems a little different than I remember. Lots of new malls and restaurants are here. We are staying at the hotel Habakuk. It is a very nice hotel and people around the team are really doing their best to make us feel comfortable. We cant wait for the upcoming games. It is going to be awesome to play in Tabor arena again. As a teenager I used to spend hundreds of hours there. If you have time on Friday and Sunday come cheer for us. See you there!!!

Boki