BERLIN. Finland and Croatia will meet on Sunday afternoon in a very interesting quarter-final of the European Championship. The teams are familiar with each other in the sense that they played in the same group in the World Cup qualifiers.
Finland won both games in the World Cup qualifiers. The away match played at the beginning of July became a classic when Lauri Markkanen made the winning basket Petteri Koponen pass with his three-point shot in the last seconds of the match.
Since the beginning of July, however, Croatia has become a stronger NBA player With Dario Saricthe Euroleague champion With Krunoslav Simon and with an American-born back man With Jaleen Smith.
Smith praises Susijeng as a good team that knows how to play together and can throw. Smith has had time to admire Markkanen’s performances from the highlight clips circulating on social media.
– Markkanen has been everywhere on social media. It was impossible not to see it. He’s been really good, Smith says.
Markkanen has had a wild blow at the European Championships. He is fourth in the points statistics of the European Championships. Markkanen has scored 24.8 points per game. Above are only the NBA’s brightest stars: Greece Giannis Antetokounmpo (29.5) and Slovenian Luka Doncic (26.6). and Bulgaria, which has already been eliminated from the Games, between the two Alexander Vezenkov (26.8).
– Markkanen has played really well. We need to slow him down and guard him with more players. We have to break his rhythm, Smith describes.
Denies opponent tackle
In the final round of the European Championship, the initial group stage was heated, when the Croatian NBA star and Lauri Markkanen, who is also enrolled in Utah Bojan Bogdanovic intentionally missed a free throw in the closing moments of the Ukraine game.
After that, Croatia allowed Ukraine to score a basket. That’s how Croatia won the match by five points and finally relegated themselves to group three. It meant that Croatia had Finland as their playoff opponent instead of Poland and, most importantly, avoided a more difficult path in the playoff schedule beforehand.
Croatia will not have to face champion candidates Slovenia or Serbia until possibly in the final.
Among other things, in the Serbian media, Croatia was barked up. (you switch to another service)
The story continues after the playoff schedule.
Bogdanovic was not available for an interview with during the training sessions before the Susijengi game. Bogdanovic threw a couple of free throws during practice during the time open to the media and then left for the locker room.
Smith denied cheating against Ukraine.
– We just played our own game. Everyone can say what they want. We are now in this situation, Smith stated.
Smith wasn’t even a Croat in July at the time of the previous Finland game
Smith has also been a part of the national team basketball’s constant talking point in these games.
When Croatia lost to Finland in early July and lost their chance to qualify for the World Cup, Smith was not yet a Croatian citizen. The country was worried about the success of the national team. The fall was also reacted to.
One of the NBA’s European pioneers Dino Radja was allowed to leave the leadership positions of the men’s national team. Radja had been according to local newspaper information (you will switch to another service) against the acquisition of foreign players. According to newspaper reports, his departure sealed the possibility for Croatia to receive American reinforcements.
Smith also granted previously (you switch to another service), that he didn’t even know where Croatia was until he got an offer to play for the national team. The Texas-born defender has played five seasons in the German Bundesliga. and was chosen as the league’s most valuable player a year ago. There have been no ties to Croatia.
He has not been the only similar example in the European Championships. Also the American reinforcement of Slovenia Mike Tobey has said that he only heard about Slovenia when he was asked about the possibility of taking a Slovenian passport. Even in previous value contests, the situation around the so-called “buyers” has spoken.
In the case of Croatia and Slovenia, the situation has been surprising, especially because both countries have strong basketball traditions. Relying on American reinforcements naturally raises eyebrows.
Smith has a direct opinion for critics like him.
– Everyone does it and why not? Some teams don’t want to do that. But that’s normal. You have to get used to it, Smith assured.
The pipeline to Finland or Croatia will break
The 27-year-old Smith has been a valuable player for Croatia in that sense, because the country has NBA-level wings and undercarriage players, such as Bojan Bogdanovic, Dario Saric and Ivica Zubacbut not quite the top game makers.
If you weren’t familiar with Croatia before this summer, at least the game arena against Finland is. Smith already played in the playoff stage of the European Championship last season in the Berlin arena, when he played for the Euroleague team Alba in Berlin.
The stakes of the match are interesting in the sense that in the previous two European Championships, Croatia has lost the first playoff match, like Finland. So one of the two’s losing streak in the European Championship playoffs will be broken.
Finland is seeking its first place in the top eight at the European Championships since the home games in 1967.
According to the 193-centimeter playmaker, the 2013 European Championship finalists Croatia have improved their defensive play as these games have progressed.
– We showed against Ukraine that we know how to defend. We will also try that against Finland, Smith concludes.
Susigengi will face Croatia in Sunday’s quarter-final at 15:45. Live broadcast on TV2 and Areena at 15:20.
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