Man what a game to open up the finals. GEO slowly increases its lead throughout the game, only to lose the lead due to a mid-4th quarter rally by BUL, and then BUL watches the game slip away with each free throw made by GEO. A couple things to take away from this game:
1) Both teams are really good and really deep - Both teams had all of their players rated at a 10.0 or higher for the game, with GEO having 5 players rated at 12.0 or higher. These games stay intense even when the starters are sitting.
2) Hajri and Guban are phenomenal - It is always a great game when these two superstars go head-to-head, and this game was the best ever between the two. Hajri put up 45 points in this game and went 8-16 form downtown, including back to back 3's that gave BUL the lead with about 6 minutes to go. He also dished out 6 assists and came down with a decent number or rebounds. Guban on the other hand was hot during the 1st half, making 9 shots in a row and giving GEO an 8 point lead at the half. He shot a very high percentage (60.9%) and also sealed the game, making two key buckets in the last minutes of the game that forced BUL into fouling. I believe that both of the two players are the front runners for the MVP race.
3) GEO won because of their superior rebounding - GEO recorded 26 more rebounds in this game, including 8 more offensive rebounds. Kuristik was a rebounding monster, and him and Venard basically eliminated the rebounding leader Antonsson to only 8 rebounds. BUL cannot give up that many second chance points if it wants to win this series.