On Sunday, the first three quarter-finals of the European Championship have ended with the same numbers 94-86. Simone Fontecchio, Lauri Markkanen’s teammate from next season, was one of the architects of the sensation when Italy took a shock victory over Serbia.
BERLIN. Italy was responsible for the biggest surprise of the European basketball championships so far, when the team from the boot country overthrew Serbia, which has shown masterful performances so far, in the quarterfinals. Italy beat Serbia 94–86.
The readings are funny in that sense, because the previous quarterfinals on Sunday had ended up with exactly the same readings. Poland defeated Ukraine 94–86 and Finland also defeated Croatia 94–86.
The celebrations in the Berlin Arena were quite big after Italy’s victory. Head coach kicked out due to two technical fouls Gianmarco Pozzecco also tried to get on the field, but the players and the team’s support group blocked the intentions of the very emotional coach.
One of the biggest architects of the sensational victory was still Lauri Markkanen next season’s teammate Simone Fontecchio. Laituri bagged 19 points with good percentages. Fontecchio was also involved with his exploits in the last minutes to seal the deal for Italy.
Markkanen has had a wild blow at the European Championships. Markkanen scored as many as 43 points in defeating Croatia on Sunday. Suomalaistahtih is third in the point statistics of the European Championships. Above are the superstars: Greece Giannis Antetokounmpo and Slovenian Luka Doncic.
Fontecchio’s mouth was already in a big smile after the victory, but his mouth turned even wider when Urheilu asked about playing with Lauri Markkanen next season.
– I am happy that I will be his teammate and I can be with him on the field at the same time. He is incredible. Everyone knows his talent, Fontecchio beamed.
For Fontecchio, Utah is not a disappointment, but a dream
In Finland, Markkanen’s next year has been talked about in a minor triumphant tone, because the construction of a new successful project has just started in Utah. Utah is expected to finish at the bottom of the NBA next season. Team stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell was traded away in the summer, and there were no players of a similar caliber to replace him. Because of Mitchell’s trade, Markkanen also ended up in Utah next season from Cleveland.
However, Fontecchio’s situation is different. The Italian player, a year and a half older than Mark, is just starting his NBA career. Fontecchio has played for a long time in the Italian premier league and the previous two seasons in Germany and Spain. Last season, he represented Baskonia, which reached fourth in the Spanish league and played in the Euroleague.
When Markkanen was picked up at the NBA draft in the seventh year of 2017, Fontecchio had already withdrawn from the opportunity. Now he gets to try his wings in the world’s toughest basketball league without an NBA reservation.
– It is unbelievable. A dream comes true, says Fontecchio.
However, Fontecchio is still focused on playing with Italy in the European Championship. According to the Italian hero, despite the outbursts of emotion, the victory of the evening was not the biggest of his career. Also last year, Italy defeated Serbia in the Olympic qualifying tournament. At that time, even on Serbia’s home ground in Belgrade.
Although Italy is a tough basketball country, success in the country has been expected. The last time Italy won medals at the European Championships was in 2003, when they won bronze. At the 2004 Olympics, the team won silver. There was already time to doubt the team’s chances of success this fall, because the country’s NBA star Danilo Gallinari had to withdraw from the Games due to a knee injury.
– Let’s go one game at a time and see what happens, Fontecchio clichédly stated when he was finally asked about Italy’s chances of success.
On Monday, there will be a break in the European Basketball Championships. Finland will meet Spain in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. shows all of Susijeng’s matches.
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