Susigengi did what it wanted in the first group of the European Championships. Still, Finland has to worry about the ranking late into the evening. However, the wolf gang has already done a great trick at the European Championships, writes Roope Visuri.
PRAGUE. It was over before it almost started. Susigengi knocked out group jumbo Holland and decided the final match of the initial group in the first half.
Lauri Markkanen surely donked himself again in the highlight videos of the whole day of the European Championships. As a delicacy Petteri Koponen served by the alley-oop “King of the North”. The final score was 88–67 for Finland.
The Finnish fans were also in shock again. They decide their careers Petteri Koponen and Shawn Huff received a wonderful tribute as fans chanted their names. Once again, a guarantee of cool colors for basketball people!
Although the number of fans had clearly dropped from the previous games of the Games, the atmosphere did not. Even Markkanen got the same treatment at the free throw line as the Serbian superstar Nikola Jokic has received from his own fans.
After the wonderful moments, the journey continues to Berlin for the European Championship playoffs.
Now it’s just a matter of tension, who will be Finland’s opponent in the quarterfinals and what is Finland’s ranking.
It’s a pretty crazy situation that nothing is clear in Finland’s group after Susijeng’s last match. No, who will win the group, who will be second, third and fourth.
The last continuation place is also open. Of course, Susigengi had already secured their place and the victory improved the chances for second place in the group. The final rankings and settings for the next games will have to wait until the final game of the group tonight.
This all reflects how tough and even the competition is in European national team basketball.
Even before the playoffs in Berlin, Susijeng’s year has been unimaginably hard. Susigengi has won competitive matches with a huge percentage for themselves, except for the European Championship opener against Israel and the complete knockout given by the European Championship gold candidate Serbia.
At the beginning of the year, Olympic quadruple and reigning European champion Slovenia was knocked out twice in the World Cup qualifiers. Even in mid-summer, iron grips were seen in the World Cup qualifiers. Toppling Croatia, which was filled with NBA players, on the away field. At the end of August, playing in a historic World Cup venue and even as the first European country!
Countries like the Czech Republic and Poland, which were among the top eight at the World Championships three years ago, have crashed in the European Championships. Now Poland didn’t even make it to the World Cup qualifiers and the Czech Republic is struggling to make it to the Games. In order to stay at the top of Europe in basketball, it is therefore required to perform at a fairly steady and hard level.
Finland has been able to do that with a high percentage. For the fifth time in a row, a place in the play-offs and among the top 16 countries in Europe is already on the way. This is also the value of the highlight performances of Lauri Markkanen and his partners in the shouting storm in Prague.
The icing on the cake is to apply with good opportunities
Now Susijengi still has a chance to get the cherry on top of the cake in the follow-up games in Berlin. Through the Finnish men’s national basketball team, the highest ranking from the European Championships is from the home games in 1967, when Finland was sixth. In the so-called “modern era” and in the current European Championship pipeline, Finland has not yet reached the top eight.
It would somehow be natural to take this next step in the European Championship as an extension of a great year. And not very impossible, as long as Finland is able to avoid one of the world’s best basketball players in the evening’s group roulette Giannis Antetokounmpo starred Greece.
Susigengi, on its best day, can knock down the other available opponents: teams like Italy, Ukraine and Croatia.
There is still a fresh memory of defeating Ukraine and Croatia from this summer. Of course, it must be emphasized that there is not a single team in Europe’s top 16 that could be knocked out even with a weaker performance. There is also a memory of that from five years ago, when after a wonderful opening group in Helsinki, Italy really blew Susijengi in Istanbul.
Fortunately for Susijeng, the current Finnish national team is tougher than in the previous European Championships five years ago. At least the results in Prague have already shown.
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