Great Britain’s path to qualifying for the 2009 European Championship started off rough, with an overtime loss to Israel. Many were worrying about whether the other players had enough time to gel with Luol Deng, who joined the team late. Since that first loss, Great Britain has dominated Group D, and has now qualified for the 2009 European Championship as the winner of Group D.

Great Britain clinched there spot in the 2009 European Championships with a 67-63 win over the Czech Republic. This is Great Britain’s second win of the tournament against the Czech Republic. Previously, Great Britain defeated them 87-68 in a game where Great Britain had to redeem itself from the Israel loss.

While this game was closer than the previous game against the Czech Republic, the driving forces behind the victory were the same. Luol Deng scored 21 points and Nate Reinking added 20 points for Great Britain to lead them to victory. In their previous victory against the Czech Republic, Deng scored 21 points and Reinking added 22 points.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu had another solid game against the Czech Republic with 9 points and 11 rebounds. In their previous game against the Czech Republic, Mensah-Bonsu had 13 points 16 rebounds 3 steals and 3 blocks.

Luol Deng again had turnover problems, having 5 in the game. Great Britain had 22 turnovers as a team.

Despite their turnover problems, Great Britain was still able to overcome Jiri Welsch’s 28 point scoring burst, for the victory.

With this victory, Great Britain probably has proven all they needed to that they are competitive enough to deserve the host spot in the 2012 Olympics in London.

Great Britain will wrap up its play in the qualifying portion of the tournament on Saturday in a game against Bosnia and Herzegovina.