EuroBasket: Serbia Upset – Finland Reaches Quarterfinals

The big favorite for the title was eliminated in the round of 16 of the SEM basketball. Serbia was completely surprising on Saturday evening Finland with 86:92 (48:44) in the Xiaomi Arena in Riga. With Nikola Jokic, the world’s best player and triple MVP of the NBA is no longer at the tournament.

The Serbs had to deal with injury problems over the entire tournament. Bogdan Bogdanovic’s captain failed early on.

In the game against Finland, which a few days ago in the last group game, Germany was significantly lost with 61:91, the vice world champion never managed to settle decisively. In the crucial phase, Lauri Markkanen took over on the Finnish side. The NBA star from the Utah Jazz put on a total of 29 points. On the other hand, Jokic scored 33 points. In the end, however, that wasn’t enough.

Finland now meets the winner of the game France against Georgia in the quarterfinals. Serbia, meanwhile, would have been a possible opponent of Germany in the semi -finals. The German team had previously won its round of 16 against Portugal with 85:58, but also revealed over three quarters on the offensive. It was only in the last ten minutes of the game that the threesome finally fell – the team of head coach Alex Mumbru, who returned to the bench, missed 22 attempts from a distance. The world champion now has to deal with Italy or Slovenia in the quarterfinals. The duel rises on Sunday (5.30 p.m., Magenta Sport). All eyes will again be aimed at the Slovenian superstar and playmaker Luka Doncic by the Los Angeles Lakers.

That also came for final round hosts Latvia. The Latvians had to give up Lithuania with 79:88. In an extremely emotional game in the sold -out Xiaomi Arena, the Lithuanians, who led over almost ten points over almost the entire season, kept their nerves from the ranks. In the quarter -finals there is also Turkey, which had a lot of trouble at 85:79 against Sweden.