“On Monday morning, we laughed in the Libra Hall with Andris Biedriņš and our training member that Andris may not be going to Portugal’s game at all, because still painful memories of your common 2007,” laughed Ģirts KalniņšRecalling that once against Portugal had already suffered a very painful loss when the team led by Karl Muiznieks 18 years ago conceded to the final game of the EC group tournament. In the match of 2025, however, everything ended without great surprises, and the Latvian team justified its favorite status.
“But this time the game came down the mountains, especially in the second half,” Kalnins continued. “But the whole game had a feeling that one team knows that they would win while the other team feels that this time it probably wouldn’t work. The first half liked several things – the percentage of the shots was finally level. “The long -range shots were opened, so he lifted his distance not only to the NBA distance, but even further.
Kārlis Muiznieks agreed that this was the game that could be said that Latvia really fell in the first half: “The Portuguese played with defense just as we liked. They gave us freedom, there was no aggressive pressure, there was no press on the hemisphere. There were free and half -shots in the passes.
Muiznieks pointed out that Portugal had no longer run in his head and neck in the second half, because he realized that he could start thinking about the next game, which would be decisive for them, and the Latvian team was reduced consequently: “We may have been too freely, we gave the Portuguese chances to attract.
Although Latvia’s dominance was very high in the second half and there were gaps in injuries, so far, little -played Klav Chavar and Marcis Steinbergs went on the field for a short time. Muiznieks said the Latvian national team coaches probably wanted to hold the team winner in the spirit: “From the outside, I even seemed to have worried more in the last quarter and had more to play with the referees than even play against Turkey.
“Steinberg, in my opinion, was very worried about the pitch,” Kalnins said about the subject. “Looked even at the collaboration between the auta, and then Marek seems to have pulled him by the hand where it should be. But I also agree that he could have been able to try him at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Kalnins recalled that he had previously made a proposal to expand the application of players in FIBA national team tournaments, believing that in such an intense game mode, 12 players were too small. In his opinion, the samples should be able to apply for a wider composition. “I would only be about 14 players to drive to PK and EC.”
Speaking of the entire tournament so far, the experts in the studio were delighted that they had managed to enter the playoffs before the last day of the game, and stressed that the quality of the game is up to the game, which is a positive trend.
Kalniņš described the start of the tournament hotly and emotionally, stating that he did not like a random focus on the conclusions offered by basketball analytics. The players themselves had publicly stated that they chose to give some opponent players in the game against Turkey. Kalniņš said that although Turkish season statistics may not be excellent, it is wrong to believe that the Turkish national team -level players Fenerbahce and Galatasaray clubs have players who can leave free, “because it sees,” Kalniņš said.
“Something changed from the game against Serbia. Nothing could be blamed for defense in that match,” Kalnins said. “Defense begins from the desire to cover the opponent at all, and then the technical details follow. Of course, Jokich cannot be completely covered, just like Donchic and Adetokunbo, they can only be restricted. But we can cover the other players, and we succeeded. Other “small” players are also beaten.
The next “basketball aftertaste” is scheduled for the Latvian and Czech national team games on Wednesday night, when Salvis Mētra will also visit Karlis Muiznieki Studio
Aftertaste after Latvia-Portugal game
Important links:
EuroBasket 2025 News, Comments and Game Analysis
Sportland EuroBasket 2025 Prediction Game
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Enjoy EC basketball at the largest sports bar in Latvia O’Learys
