Head coach Joe Prunty insists that it was more than just Mirza Teletovic who caused Britain problems last night after they lost their second consecutive 2015 EuroBasket qualification match to Bosnia in London.
Teletovic contributed 25 points as Bosnia defeated Britain 80-67 – their second setback of the campaign after they lost the opening match 83-70 to Iceland in Reykjavik.
Prunty knows Teletovic only too well as he coached the NBA star into becoming a starting forward for the Brooklyn Nets last season while working as Jason Kidd’s assistant coach.
But 49-year-old Prunty insists that it wasn't a one-man show, and Britain must now win their two remaining fixtures against Iceland and Bosnia to have any real chance of reaching the EuroBasket 2015 proper.
“It was stretches where they did some really good things and shorter stretches unfortunately where we did some good things,” said Prunty, who has recently been appointed as the new assistant coach at the Milwaukee Bucks.
“We did a nice job of cutting it to seven and scrapping in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately on an out of bounds play right in front of our bench, we gave up two easy at the layup.
“And when you are making runs like that you can’t give up those plays. Bosnia deserve a lot of credit, people will look at Mirza Teletovic’s line and think that it was all him.
“But the reality is that it wasn’t. They had six guys close to double figures, they did a very good job of executing some things and we needed to do a better job of stopping them.”
© Sportsbeat 2014