National Basketball Association

Jusuf Nurkic: Inefficiency Plagued His First EuroBasket Game

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Denver Nuggets may have found another gem in Jusuf Nurkic, and he continued to excel in a recent EuroBasket game against Russia, kinda.

24 teams will make the EuroBasketball Tournament in 2017, and 13 have been chosen, leaving 11 up for qualifying. Yesterday was day 1 of the EuroBasketball Qualifying action, and Denver Nugget Jusuf Nurkic was in action!

Jusuf Nurkic and Bosnia played Russia, and the results were not pretty. Bosnia and Herzegovina are in Group C which includes them, Russia, and Sweden. Only one of these teams will advance to the EuroBasketball Tournament next summer.

The first half was a memorable one for Bosnia as they were actually up 35-34 at the second break, but somehow it went completely down hill from there. Turnovers and inefficiency plagued their entire game or at least the second half as they were outscored 30. Yes, 30! The score ended up being a horrendous 83-54.

Nurkic finished the game playing over 31 minutes which was the second most by anybody in the game. Big man, Jusuf Nurkic also finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds while shooting a dismal 5/16 (31.2%).

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The 22-year-old could be in for a breakout season along with fellow Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic. Jusuf Nurkic was in a measly 32 games last season, and it is time to step up and show his full potential.

This was a “poor” outing for the Bosnian Beast, yet he still led both teams in points and rebounds. Even his bad games in EuroBasket are impressive. While not obtaining too much time last season, Jusuf Nurkic still had good numbers as he had 17.3 points and 15.3 per 36 minutes.

This could be a make or break year for the young big, and we are ready- more now than ever- to watch him impress the Nuggets fans this season.

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