Spain beat Susijengi in the quarterfinals of the European Basketball Championships 100–90. Finland played in the quarterfinals for the first time in its history. Susijeng’s tournament ended in defeat.
20:04•Updated 20:42
The season of the Finnish national basketball team in the EC tournament ended with a defeat in the quarter-finals against the reigning world champion, Spain. Spain won the match 100–90.
Finland played a great first half in the match and led by as many as 15 points at its best. In the third and especially in the fourth quarter, Spain showed its toughness.
If in the middle of the match, Susijeng’s shooting percentages were crushing compared to Spain, in the second half it seemed like Spain sank every long shot.
The Finnish tournament ended in defeat. At the same time, two Finnish icons ended, Shawn Huff and Petteri Koponen basketball career.
Finland’s throws sank at first with a great percentage
Finland played brilliantly in the first period, leading 30–19. The very beginning of the match was difficult for Susijeng, but after that, Finland got into a real trance.
Among other things, 18 years old Miro Little constructed situations without prejudice. Cheeky baskets were seen From Elias Valtos and From Mikael Jantus.
Spain managed to hold on in the first half quite well Lauri Markkanen. Still, Markkanen scored the most Susijeng points in the opening half, 10, but he got nice support from the rest of the group.
The first quarter ended with an unimaginable basket. Finland got the last possession, but it was broken six seconds before the end of the quarter Henri Kantonen for losing the ball. Then Rodolfo Fernandez put in a layup from a drive through. There were 2 seconds left on the clock – and Jantunen dunked the ball from half the field.
In the second quarter, Finland took a 15-point lead when Markkanen and Sasu Salin succeeded in consecutive threes. However, Spain narrowed the gap to nine before the break. Finland led 52–43 at the break.
Finland could have led much more in the half based on the shooting percentage. In the opening period, Finland sank the runners-up by 71 percent, Spain by 58 percent. The percentage of three-pointers went crushingly in Finland’s favor, 54–19.
However, Spain were in a class of their own when it came to offensive rebounds. Spain took them 11-3 in the first half. Finland lost a lot of possession, although Spain also had its problems. Finland has 9 losses in the opening period, Spain 7.
Spain started to hit from behind the arc – Finland was completely left behind
In the third quarter, the game completely turned around. Spain scored 9 points in a couple of minutes, Finland just one. Finland could no longer be defended by Lorenzo Brown ball screens. In attack, Finland’s game became static and crowded.
– Now Spain is completely in control of the match, said the expert coldly Antero Lehto.
Spain took the third quarter 30–15. The reigning world champion’s poor pitching game had turned into excellent pitching.
In the last quarter, Finland was still two points away thanks to the successes of Jantusen and Markkanen. After Finland rose to 82–84, Spain ran away.
Especially from a 37-year-old From Rudy Fernadez we saw a couple of really hard three-point successes under pressure.
Losing the ball as Finland’s fate
In the end, losing the ball was the fate of Finland in the match. Finland seemed tired in the decisive moments, on the other hand, organized and fast Spain made it difficult for Finland to play.
Finland lost 19 possessions in the match, of which Spain scored 33 points. Spain had 9 turnovers, of which Finland got 12 points. It is also worth noting that Spain lost 7 possessions at the beginning of the match, but in the second half the hands of the winners did not shake anymore.
The shooting percentages tell a lot about the two-sided nature of the match. If in the first half Finland was in a class of its own in the throwing game, at the end of the match the percentages of second shots were only 65–64 for Finland and 41–36 of third shots.
Lauri Markkanen scored 28 points, Mikael Jantunen 18, Alexander Madsen 13 and Sasu Salin 11. Spain was able to keep Finland’s number one players at bay, even though Markkanen’s score is great. In the plus-minus statistic, Markkanen was finally recorded -14 and Salini no less than -19. Instead, Madsen got up to 14 points in the plus.
Spain scored the most points Willy Hernangomez, 27. Finland did not control the NBA center sufficiently under the basket. This one’s nephew Juancho Hernangomez scored 15 points.
Spain’s leading scorer Lorenzo Brown scored 10 points and made 11 assists.
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