Finland pulled off one of the biggest international upsets in recent years, surprising Serbia on Saturday in a EuroBasket elimination game, writes Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews. Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen led the way for the Finnish team with 29 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals in the 92-86 victory.
“Unreal,” Markkanen said. “Great performance by the team. We needed every single one of them tonight — everybody in the stands, the staff, the players. Big credit to them. We’re not done yet, but we’re gonna enjoy this. Obviously, that’s a heck of a team we just beat, and now we move forward.”
Led by perennial MVP candidate Nikola Jokic and with six other current and former NBA players on its roster, Serbia was considered among the favorites for the EuroBasket title when the tournament began. However, its prospects took a major hit when Bogdan Bogdanovic suffered a ruptured hamstring muscle last week that forced him out of the competition.
Serbia cruised to victories in its first four games behind dominant performances from Jokic. However, they dropped to second in Group A after Wednesday’s loss to Turkey and didn’t respond well in the knockout round.
Jokic delivered 33 points and eight rebounds on Saturday, but Serbia didn’t offer much other scoring punch outside of Nikola Jovic‘s 20 points. Despite his many career accomplishments, Jokic has never medaled at EuroBasket.
Up next for Finland will be the winner of Sunday’s game between France and Georgia.
Lithuania also advanced to the quarterfinals on Saturday with an 88-79 victory over Latvia, joining Turkey and Germany, who won earlier in the day.
With Rokas Jokubaitis sidelined by a serious knee injury, Arnas Velicka starred for the Lithuanians with 21 points, 12 assists and five rebounds, while Azoulas Tubelis contributed 18 points and 12 rebounds and Deividas Sirvydis added 18 points.
Latvia was eliminated despite a stellar performance from Hawks big man Kristaps Porzingis, who finished with 34 points and 19 rebounds before fouling out late in the game. Porzingis told reporters that he has mostly recovered from the illness that sapped his strength last season with Boston, according to BasketNews.
“It’s true that there were still some days when I wasn’t feeling perfect, and I’m still working my way back to having my gas tank full,” he said. “But as the tournament went on, I started to feel really good physically, and I knew I could push my body, I could push myself to go. Today was an example of that. It’s just up from now. Overall, a great summer with my Latvian teammates, being back home, enjoying time with family. And yeah, I would have liked to finish on a more beautiful note.”
Lithuania’s quarterfinals opponent will be the winner of Sunday’s Greece-Israel matchup.