Dinamo is once again in critical turmoil, having suffered four consecutive defeats between the league and the European Cup, sliding close to the danger zone in Serie A and missing out on the European Cup. It must be said that injuries to Marshall, Beliauska, Buie, and Johnson have weakened the squad, which is also struggling to train.
Despite the 82-70 loss to Aliaga Petkimspor in Turkey, coach Veljko Mrsic expressed confidence: "We played a solid game against an opponent who is currently better than us. Despite the result, there was progress, and I noticed it, especially on defense. The first 17 minutes were very good, the best I've seen in recent games. We had moments of physical and even mental decline, and we made some poor decisions at key moments. At 67-67, they accelerated and made some important shots that created them, while we didn't."
The problem remains long-range shooting, as the Croatian coach points out: "We're still having issues with our three-point shooting percentages; 3-for-21 isn't enough to win away from home." Against Reggio Emilia, the Sassari team shot 1-for-18. Against Zaragoza, Banco finished 7-for-28. They only shot reasonably well against Naples (10-for-31), and it's no coincidence that that was the only game they could have won.
The fact is that without Marshall and Beliauskas, who both shoot 38%, the shooting has diminished. The other shooter is Johnson (41% from the arc), but he missed two games and has been in poor condition in the last two. While waiting for the better Johnson to recover, the Italians Visconti and Mezzanotte will have to be especially accurate from three-point range, otherwise winning becomes almost impossible.
