On Wednesday, the quarter-final between Slovenia and Poland on TV2 and Areena from 21:15. also shows the semi-finals of the European Championships on Friday and the medal games on Sunday. The European Championships are followed in this article.
The season of the Finnish men’s national basketball team in the EC tournament ended on Tuesday evening in Berlin. Reigning world champion Spain was better in the quarter-final match by 100-90.
Susigengi still made history after advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time.
In the first group in Prague, not only Susijengi, but also Finnish fans cheered. At the best of times, more than 5,000 Finnish spectators watched the matches of the first group, and the atmosphere they created was widely admired, for example, on social media.
The semifinal match ended with emotional moments and wistful tears. Finnish national team icons Petteri Koponen and Shawn Huff ended their basketball careers.
Read more: Even the stars of Spain honored the legends of Susijeng with an elegant gesture – Petteri Koponen admitted that he was afraid of the future
What did you get from the Spain match and the whole tournament?
Finland started with a charm phase, Spain threw miserably
In the first half against Spain, the wolf gang got into a real frenzy. Finland won the first quarter 30–19 and led 52–43 at halftime.
Finland played the first half with open-mindedness and courage. 18 years old Miro Little built situations cleverly and cheeky baskets were seen, among other things From Elias Valtos and From Mikael Jantus.
– For Finland, the start of the game went like in the famous Finno-Swedish program, i.e. Strömsö, says Urheilu’s expert Antero Lehtobut then notes:
– The basket readings in the first half were not the whole truth. In the first half, Spain already had a lot of chances to shoot, but they shot really badly. Those percentages weren’t terribly good in the second half either, but Spain started to get more and more free chances.
American quarterback recruited to the Spanish team in the summer Lorenzo Brown was bad for Susijeng. Finland was no longer able to defend the ball screens used by Brown, and accordingly, in the attack, Finland’s game became static and violent.
That’s what the basket readings of the third quarter tell. Spain took the first minutes 9–1 and finally the whole ten minutes 30–15. The Spanish were able to slow down Finland when they started playing with the intensity they are capable of at their best.
In the opening half, the three-point shooting percentage went crushingly in Finland’s favor: 54–19. As usually happens, the numbers evened out and were finally in Finland’s favor 41–36.
– They were the last rivet by Rudy Fernandez crushing three-pointers. Fernandez played a great match anyway, Lehto marveled at the 37-year-old giant.
Representing Real Madrid, Fernandez, who won ten prestigious medals in the ranks of Spain, made two three-point shots from really difficult places in the last minutes of the match. In the end, he scored 11 points and took no less than 5 steals.
One of Finland’s woes was taking care of the ball. Finland had 19 turnovers, of which Spain scored 33 points. Usually, quick attacks have been Finland’s most important weapon. Now Finland inoculated 12 points from Spain’s losses.
Big picture of the tournament: Finland was able to improve all the time
Having thought about the whole tournament, Lehto has in mind how Finland was able to improve throughout the tournament. The tournament started with a mediocre match against Israel, which Finland lost in overtime.
After that, Finland beat Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands in the first group and lost to Serbia, which was in its own class in the first group. Finland took second place in the initial group.
– And this Spain match was by no means bad either. There were really a lot of good blanks. Now the opponent was simply just a notch tougher.
The grove reminds of a simple fact. Finland won four matches in the tough tournament, lost three.
– In the club team, it would be said that you have to be able to play winning basketball. Of course, in such tournaments it is essential to also be able to win the right matches.
This time, Finland was able to grab the first playoff win in its prestigious tournament history. Since 2011, Finland has advanced every time from the initial group to the next one. Now it was also able to take a step from the top 16 to the top eight.
The average age of Finland’s key players is the youngest among the best
When Lehdo is asked how bright Susijeng’s future looks, he urges you to look at the average age of the Finnish team’s key players in playoff matches.
– A basketball player is at his best when he is 28–30 years old.
Lehto’s assessment is also correct according to the calculator. When you look at the age of the six players from the Finnish team who got the most playing time in the Spain match, the average is 25.3 years. Sasu Salin was the only one over 30 years old. It’s still growing in the background Miro Little18, a top talent like that who already flashed in this tournament.
The average age of the six players in the Finnish team who got the most playing time was 25.3.
For comparison, below is the corresponding average age of the other teams that advanced to the quarterfinals. (The six who got the most playing time in the quarterfinals are included, because at the time of writing, not all of them had yet played their quarterfinals.)
Germany: 26.8
Greece: 29.7
Spain: 28
Slovenia: 28.3
Poland: 29.9
France: 29.5
Italy: 27.3
The average age of the entire composition of the Finnish team at the EC tournament was 27.
Out of the 24 teams of the European Championship, only three had a lower average age: the average age of Montenegro, Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina is reported to be 26 years on the website of the European Championship.
If Koponen and Huff, who ended their careers, are left out of the Finnish team, the average age remains 25.2.
Lassi Tuovi, 35, only started as head coach this summer. Of course, Tuovi had worked as an assistant coach at Susijeng for a decade, and a former assistant coach Henrik Dettmann still helps out in the background as the head coach of the Basketball Association.
Finland did not get 22-year-old Olivier Nkamhoua, who played a big role in the summer’s World Championships, to participate in the European Championships. The athletic winger was forced to return to the University of Tennessee.
– Finnish basketball has a great future. I’m happy about it, I’ve seen it rise. The national team will be in good hands, it’s great to follow it from the other side, stated Petteri Koponen in his last interview as a Susijengi player.
– We can come to the EC tournament and seriously fight for a place in the medal games. It’s a really great achievement. I’m excited about the future of Finland basketball and about these young guys who are already used to the fact that success will come and work accordingly, commented Shawn Huff.
The next time it will be possible to see Susijengi in real action is in November, when the World Cup qualifiers continue with an away game against Germany and a home game against Estonia.
The fact that Susijengi has already secured its place in the World Cup gives the most impetus to the enthusiasm of Koposen, Huff and their partners about the future. The World Cup will be played in August-September 2023 in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
In the videos below, you can watch the interviews of Koposen and Huff, who ended their careers, and head coach Tuovi after the quarter-final against Spain.
Read more:
The wolf gang created an unprintable text in the world champion’s dressing room – the Spanish star who hugged Lauri Markka: “They did an incredible job”
Comment: Would you have believed such a thing? The wolf gang already had time to make history – that’s why the touching moment after the game felt particularly exhilarating
Even the stars of Spain honored the legends of Susijeng with an elegant gesture – Petteri Koponen admitted that he was afraid of the future
An important note from Lauri Markkase at the time of the stinging defeat: “We did something that none of us had done before”
Spain beat Susijeng in the EC quarter-finals – Finland had a dazzling opening half, then the reigning world champions showed their strength