Radović: We have to play 40 minutes at a high level

The Montenegrin national basketball team recorded its second victory in the preparatory period today, defeating Israel in Bar (88:76).

Boško Radović's team led from the beginning of the match, played on the wings of Nikola Vučević (27 points and 10 rebounds) and ultimately came out on top.

"We played the first half maturely, properly - both in attack and defense. Better in attack than in defense. The way we want. But, we started the second half without focus, unconcentrated - we were looking at the scoreboard. We had the game in our hands the whole time. If we don't play at the same level for all 40 minutes at the European Championship, we will have problems," coach Radović warned after the match.

He is satisfied with the victory, but he pointed out what still needs to be corrected.

"We are satisfied with the victory, but there are again 'creaks' in those segments that we wanted to improve, primarily in defensive rebounding and turnovers. Tonight we had fewer turnovers than in the last three matches, but it is still a high number (15). We have a few days left to try to fix that before the game against Turkey in Istanbul."

The coach also commented on the performance of Kyle Olman, who finished the game with 14 points and five assists.

"When he arrived, he had four or five training sessions. Tonight was better in parts than against Greece. I think he will get into shape by the championship and that we will have good reinforcements," said Radović.

Radović once again said that there should be no relaxation during the match.

"We saw that when we are serious on offense, when we have good width, we can score, so we relaxed our defense. We can't gamble and play in spurts, but we have to play 40 minutes at a high level when the Eurobasket starts."

Djordjije Jovanovic finished the game with 13 points.

"The goal of the younger players, including myself, is to give 100 percent to help Vučević, Mihailović, who unfortunately got injured, and Olmen... As for the match with Israel, we saw that there is room for improvement - in attack we have to be more confident in passing and we have to reduce the number of turnovers, while in defense we need to be more communicative, to know who is guarding whom, especially in transition but also in positional play. It is up to us to work and try to cause a surprise at Eurobasket because we will not be favorites in any match," said Jovanović.