Exercise abnormally! Why did Kreic play so badly in the European Championship?

In the fourth round of the European Championship group stage, the Czech Republic lost to Serbia 60-82.

Considering the huge gap in strength between the two sides, the result is not surprising, but the process is still a bit exaggerated. Serbia scored a 27-5 wave in the first quarter, directly leading the Czech Republic 22 points, and the outcome was almost lost at the beginning.

Due to the huge gap, Jokic only played 18 minutes in this game, only shot twice, scored 6 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists - I sigh that the number one player in basketball today really doesn't care about data at all.

Back to the Czech men's basketball team, in this European Championship, the Czech Republic is in the same group as Serbia, Turkey, Latvia, Estonia and Belgium. They have played four games so far, but have not won one game, and have been eliminated early with 0 wins and 4 losses. Their opponent in the remaining game is Latvia, which is likely to not be able to beat. They are likely to bid farewell to the European Championship with 0 wins and 5 losses.

This Czech men's basketball team is missing Satoransky, and its strength is not good. In the previous strength rankings before the official start of the European Championship, the Czech Republic ranked 23rd among all 24 teams, so to be honest, even if it is 0 wins and 5 losses, it can be understood.

However, there are still unexpected things. After all, even this Czech men's basketball team has an NBA player in the team, but this NBA player's performance in this European Championship is really a bit too bad.

Yes, we are talking about Witt Kreich.

Hawks fans are definitely not unfamiliar with Creic. He is the second round pick in the 2020 class. His career began with the Thunder. He was traded to the Hawks in 2022. He has played for the Hawks for three years.

Among them, Kreić has served as a substitute in the past two seasons, and his performance is really good:

-2023-24 season, averaging 6.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists per game, shooting percentage of 49.0%, and 41.2% from three-point shooting percentage of 42% in 2024-25 season, averaging 7.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game, shooting percentage of 49.7%, and 43.7% from three-point shooting percentage of 42.6% in 2}

Kreić is 2.03 meters tall, playing as a guard, able to control the ball, pass the ball and defend. The key point is that his shooting can be said to be very reliable, and his real shooting percentage last season was as high as 66.1%, which is quite good.

Due to his outstanding performance, the Hawks gave him a contract renewal in 2024, but the contract is not big, 10 million in four years, and 2.27 million in last season was worth the money. The remaining three years were 2.35 million, 2.67 million and 3.01 million respectively.

But in this year's European Championship, Kreic's performance has declined sharply. The four games that the Czech men's basketball team has ended:

- against Belgium, 2 shots, 1 shots, 1 shots, 1 shots, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, plus or negative value -14

- against Turkey, 1 shots, 0 shots, 5 shots, 3 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists, plus or negative value -14

- against Aisha Nia made 4 of 9 shots, 1 of 5 three-pointers, scored 10 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists, plus-minus value -12

- Against Serbia, 3 of 11 shots, 1 of 7 three-pointers, scored 7 points and 6 rebounds, plus-minus value -22

Four games, Kreic averaged 24.9 minutes per game, only scored 7.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists, with a shooting percentage of 27.0%, a three-point shooting percentage of 13.6%, and a cumulative plus-minus value -62, which is quite explosive.

Other European stars, even if they are substitutes in the NBA or were eliminated by the NBA, they are still at the level of killer after returning to the national team, but Kreich is completely opposite. Looking at the past four games, his performance has not met expectations at all.

This situation is likely because of the team positioning problem. In the Hawks, he is just a substitute rotation, and what to do is very simple, dribbling through the half court, occasionally organizing offense, focusing on defense and three-pointers.

But in the national team, Kreich is the core, and many tactics are launched around him, and the defensive pressure is also different. In addition, the game rhythm, confrontation level, and regular venue are also different from the NBA, which has led to his repeated misperforming performance.

Of course, the Czech men's basketball team has 0 wins and 4 losses. After all, this team is weak in strength. As we said, even if it is eliminated by 0 wins and 5 losses, it is not surprising.

But at least, I hope that in the last game against Latvia, I can see Kreic have a little outbreak. Not to mention, three-pointers can't be so bad anymore. In the NBA, the three-point shooting percentage is 40% for two consecutive years, but a total of 3 of 22 three-pointers in the past four European Championships is really eye-catching.