Gulf Giants Palestine Crush Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka played Palestine in their final game of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 – Pre- Qualifiers (Western Region) in Bahrain today. It was a touch game for Sri Lanka, as Palestine outmatched Sri Lanka in every corner, defeating them with a double figure score at the end. Final scores read: 112-50.

• Previous Games

• Game in a Nutshell

There wasn’t much difference in game play from the Sri Lankan aspect in comparison to the previous game against Saudi Arabia. Palestine being a top side in Asia, outsmarted Sri Lanka in every department.

All departments of the game for Sri Lanka were dysfunctional. Both defense and offense looked bizarre. It was a walk in the park for the Palestine lads. The rebounds were grabbed effortlessly while the shots flowed naturally.

Sri Lanka is an improving side, and will take time to get to a higher standard. But the commendable factor is that Sri Lanka did not give up. They kept knocking on the door to connect shots, and continued their contest for the rebounds. This will be the only way the lads can improve.

• Key Stats

Red – Palestine                               Yellow – Sri Lanka

• Shooting Percentage

Sri Lanka only converted 21 out of the 59 attempted shots. Palestine converted 55% of their field goal successfully. Sri Lanka did opt for shots through-out the game, but the shots fell short. The defense was a bit too tight for the Sri Lankan`s to penetrate, which caused havoc in perimeter shooting. It was tough to get the right arc on shots from the three-point line, which led to a disappointing score-board.

• Rebounds

There was no doubt that the Palestinians were going to top the rebound cards. Their height and power over-played Sri Lanka at ease. The local lads were behind in both aspects of the offensive and defensive rebounds. Palestine had double the amount of Sri Lanka recorded in the entire match, which provided them with ample second chances to up the score as they pleased.

Palestine`s speed and passing wide across was spot on. Sri Lanka only managed 04 fast break points and in reply the gulf giants had 33. Sri Lanka`s bench was in superlative form during the second match, but since then it has been on a downhill. Only 08 points came out of the bench while the opposition bench scored a max of 33.

There will be a lot of lessons that Sri Lanka could learn from the Palestinians to better themselves. Assisting the rest of the players on court to bring the best out of them, the gulf lads had 31 assists while Sri Lanka had only 10. The hustle for the ball was evident as Sri Lanka conceded 16 steals, got rejected 05 times from the hoop.

• Top Performance  

Roshan Randima (Sri Lanka) – The experienced point guard once again held his position for the country. Playing a massive supporting role, Randima scored 10 points and grabbed 06 rebounds. Praneeth continued his dream-run with 20 points in the game, and he was well supported by the point guard. Recording 05 assists, he made sure the ball was fed to the hungry to grab the shots at ease.