Still came, in spite of everything: will phonetics stop Israel? | Israel today

The fact that he is playing in the Euroleague did not prevent Matheus Ponitka from joining Poland in the EuroBasket qualifiers • After missing against Romania due to a border check Corona, tonight the forward will try to stop Israel

• Phonetics (right)

  Photography: 

  AFP

Very few Euroleague players reach their national team matches in the Eurobasket qualifiers.

The overlapping schedule hardly allows for this, except that from the desperation of the Polish forward Ponitka, the only Euroleague player that Poland has and a great symbol - arrived despite everything.

Then the drama began: the result of his corona test was not unequivocal, and although he had been infected with the virus in the past, he was not allowed to play in the victory over Romania on Saturday.

Yesterday he passed the test again, and today against Israel Poland receives significant reinforcement.

It must not be forgotten that in the previous window, in the home loss to Israel, he was missing.

However, it must be noted that Ponitka is in retreat.

Last season he suffered a prolonged injury, in the current one he was arrested for contracting in Corona.

On the other hand, Zenit is one of the big and surprising successes of the Euroleague this season.

Ponitka returns, but the nationalist A.J. Slaughter will be absent.

The Polish team has three main legs: Ponitka, Slaughter and Adam Woczynski from Malaga, who has not played in the national uniform since the beginning of the campaign due to a conflict with the heads of the association.

When the three main players of Polish basketball collaborated for the last time, it ended in a historic achievement - eighth place at the 2019 World 

Cup.

However, it should be remembered that they also won in Spain and more in front of an audience in the stands in the days before the Corona.

Weakness

in the previous window In the absence of the Ponitka-Vucinski duo, Slaughter took over the responsibility in the previous window and scored 29 points (8 threes) against Israel.

His absence this time is due to a late signing for Spanish side Gran Canaria and for the simple reason that he is not yet ready for the season.

Without Slaughter, Poland's coordinator's position is severely damaged.

He will be replaced by two players.

The young guard Lukash Kolanda (21) and the veteran Lukash Kushark (36).

There is no doubt that a large fracture has opened up in the important position.

Poland is a multi-forward team with a large mass under the baskets, but limited in talent in the absence of its guns.

Apart from Ponitka, it is worth watching out for the two Poles who play outside the country: Michael Sokolowski (Italian Treviso) and Viroslav Ziskowski (Spanish Bilbao).

Both are forwards with good shooting, who can win the game.