Nikola Jokic ended with 33 points, the largest amount of the game, but it was Finland that succeeded in the last minutes to give the biggest surprise of the tournament to date.
Riga, Latvia – Elias Valtonen scored eight points in the last two minutes to help Finlandia to overcome Serbia y Nikola Jokic By 92-86 on Saturday in the round of 16 of the Eurobasket.
Nikola Jokic ended with 33 points, the largest amount of the game, but it was Finland that succeeded in the last minutes to give the biggest surprise of the tournament to date.
Serbia scored six points without a response to take an advantage of 77-75 in the last quarter, but Triple Valtonen two minutes from the end put the Finns up 82-78. Then, he added a basket and another triple to help Finland to distance himself.
Jokic’s triple from outside the network 16 seconds from the end approached Serbia to five, but Finland won the victory easily.
“They played a great game. From the beginning we were not prepared,” said Jokic, whose team lost 11-1 at the beginning. “I was simply not ready from the beginning.”
It was Finland’s first victory over Serbia since 2009. The Serbs arrived at the tournament as one of the favorites, but were eliminated in the round of 16 for the second consecutive time.
Finland ended with 20 offensive rebounds, which Jokic described as “simply unacceptable.”
“We knew what they did, we prepared well, we saw videos, and yet they managed to be better and more physical than us,” said the Denver Nuggets star.
Lauri Markkanen led Finland with 29 points and Valtonen ended with 13. In the quarterfinals, Finland will face France, a medalist of Olympic silver, OA Georgia, who play on Sunday.
Earlier on Saturday, Türkiye, Germany and Lithuania also advanced.
The NBA All-Star, Alperen Sengun, scored 24 points for Türkiye to contribute to Sweden and win by 85-79. Germany, world champion, had difficulties at the beginning against Portugal, but then traced to achieve an 85-58 victory, while Lithuania resisted a late comeback to beat Latvia, coanfitriona of the tournament, by 88-79 in Riga. Arnas Velicka led the Tricampeona Lithuania with 21 points and 12 assists.
Sengun, alero of the Houston Rockets, added 16 rebounds and six assists in a star performance against Sweden, which matched 76-76 thanks to a triple of Ludvig Hakanson just under three minutes from the end.
Hakanson led the Swedes with 16 points, while the Panathinaikos eaves, Cedi Osman, contributed 17 points for Türkiye.
