Atlanta Hawks News

Home

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

Feb 8, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Vit Krejci (27) takes a shot during the first half against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

Atlanta Hawks Vit Krejci Bounces Back In Czechia's Loss to Estonia

Originally posted on Atlanta Hawks on SI
By Kahlil McCuller | Last updated Aug 30, 2025 10:40 AM ET

In the last two EuroBasket performances, both Vit Krejci and Czechia have struggled in winnable games, with fewer mistakes being made. In today's game, however, the story remained the same as Krejci and Czechia kept things close throughout the first half, then immediately allowed a 9-0 scoring run, where Estonia would close the second quarter with an 18-point lead, 54-36, at halftime. One of the main issues that stood out in this regard was that Czechia ended the first half with 10 turnovers and was unable to force Estonia into any, which contributed to the blowout.

Krejci, who is not known to be a reliable scorer was again the team's leading scorer in the first half, scoring 10 points in 13 minutes on efficient shooting of 57% from the field. This is the second time in three games that Krejci has led Czechia in scoring in the first half, and they have gone on to lose by double-digits.

Halftime: Estonia 54, Czechia 36

Vit Krejci: 10 points (4/7 FG), 2 assists

Turnovers: Czechia 10, Estonia 0 pic.twitter.com/XrDdFqqdYZ
— Kevin Chouinard (@KLChouinard) August 30, 2025

Leading up to this game, Krejci had shot 10% from three-point range, going 1/5 (20%) against Portugal and 0/5 (0%) against Turkiye. In today's game, Krejci finally made a three-pointer and celebrated, marking the end of his rough shooting patch, which is unusual, considering that in the NBA, he shot over 40% for the Atlanta Hawks over the last two seasons. The rest of the team had been shooting 28% from the three-point line coming into this game, and it is one of the main reasons why the offense hasn't been able to get much going, leading to these double-digit losses.

Vit’s reaction when he made a three after missing all his previous threes yesterday and today pic.twitter.com/ZG7mQqfxkS
— Kevin Chouinard (@KLChouinard) August 30, 2025

As far as the second half went for Krejci, he went ghost again, as he went scoreless in the entire half and didn't really do much else, similar to his performance against Portugal, where he scored double-digits in the second quarter, then just disappeared the rest of the way. For Czechia as a team, they gave up too many points in the paint, second-chance points, and points off turnovers to Estonia, who were able to make them pay and close the deal. The main issue with the Czech team is their offense, as they struggle to make shots consistently without a decent go-to scorer. They also have trouble taking care of the basketball, averaging close to 20 turnovers per game in EuroBasket play.

The defensive end has also been a significant problem for Czechia, as they are a relatively small team that generally gets punished inside the paint by their opponents. As a team, they only have one player averaging one block per game, indicating that they have no solid rim protection. With most teams in EuroBasket struggling to shoot from deep range consistently, this will likely spell trouble for the rest of the way for Czechia. At the current pace, it would be surprising if they won a game in tournament play.

Czechia and Krejci's next game will be Monday, August 30, at 2:15 PM against two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and Serbia, which will be a big challenge.