Korea Republic vs Russia
South Korea’s FIBA World Cup campaign did not get off to a particularly promising start as they were hammered, 95-69, by Argentina.
The South Koreans were simply outclassed by the Argentines, which was predicted in SBOBET’s preview of that game. Naturalised Korean big man Ricardo Ratliffe or Ra Gun-ah did all he could to keep the game respectable, but the Koreans just didn’t have enough firepower to cope.
The Koreans will look to give a better account of themselves against Russia, who scored a big 82-77 win over Nigeria in their opening match.
The FIBA World Cup 2019 betting odds will once again be against the Asian side in their second game. But they will at least stand a much better chance of being more competitive this time around.
Talking Points
Ratliffe and who else for Korea?
Ratliffe was a one-man show for the South Koreans against Argentina. The 30-year-old led the Koreans with 31 points and 15 rebounds in 35 minutes. But even with his valiant effort, the Koreans never really made it much of a contest.
That’s because aside from Ratliffe, only Junghyun Lee (15 points) was the only other Korean in double-digits. Everyone else struggled significantly as Korea shot a mere 32 per cent as a team from the field.
Just as concerning was their inability to defend from the perimeter. They allowed the Argentines to hit 17 of 31 3-point shots for a sizzling 54 per cent.
While Ratliffe will most likely continue to put up FIBA World Cup 2019 highlights, it’s painfully clear that the Koreans will need much more from the supporting cast surrounding the big man to be even halfway competitive in this competition.
It remains to be seen where exactly that help will come from, though. This South Korean side is hardly among the strongest of the tournament’s Asian contingent. They are lacking experience in international play and don’t have many standout talents.
The Koreans themselves will have to get hot from long range in order to keep in touch with the Russians.
Russian readying long-range assault
Russia caused one of the shocks of the first day of FIBA World Cup action when they defeated a highly touted Nigeria side, 82-77.
Despite their lack of NBA-level talent on the team, the Russians were able to hold their own against D’Tigers big and athletic NBA players.
The one player on the Russian side with NBA experience — former first-round pick Sergey Karasev — had eight points off the bench.
Instead, starters Mikhail Kulagin led the way with 16 points while Andrey Vorontsevic added 14. Six Russian players had at least eight points in what was a balanced attack.
The Russians’ strong 3-point shooting — 11-of-27 — helped them edge out the Nigerians. Kulagin alone was responsible for four of those triples. They could potentially have another big game from beyond the arc after seeing the Argentines light up the Koreans for 17 triples.
After defeating one of their biggest rivals in Group B, Russia can take a massive step towards securing a spot in the next round by defeating the weakest side of the four-team group.
It would be quite a shock that after their strong performance against Nigeria, Russia don’t take care of business against South Korea.
History
The Koreans are still searching for their first FIBA World Cup win in a long while. Their last World Cup win came all the way back in 1994 since they didn’t win a single game in the last two World Cups they qualified in (1998 and 2014).
As for Russia, they are hoping to make another deep run in the tournament. They finished runners-up in their first two World Cup campaigns in 1994 and 1998 but finished just 10th in 2002 and seventh in 2010.
What are the odds?
As of this writing, there are no SBOBET odds on South Korea and Russia on the money line market, perhaps since the odds of the Asians winning are just way too high. But on the Asian Handicap market, the Russians are favoured by -13.50.
The match against Argentina highlighted just how lacking the South Koreans are behind Ratliffe. It would take quite a turnaround for them to remain competitive against a Russia team that looked so impressive against Nigeria.
The Russians will likely be very motivated to capitalise on a great opportunity to all but secure a spot in the second round. It’s hard to see them squandering it against this fairly weak South Korea team.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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