In his men’s national team debut, Miro Little showed excerpts from the top promise: “Quite awesome”.
Sasu Salin dropped seven out of three and led the Finnish basketball team’s 86–76 victory from Slovenia in the World Cup qualifiers in Espoo by 25 points.
Finland’s balance after the first three World Cup qualifiers is two wins and one loss, when Finland will face Slovenia next on the field.
The hall was one successful threesome away Petri Virtasen on the record for one match of the men’s national team in the name of eight successful threes.
“It was an important victory. Slovenia will certainly be tougher on Monday. It felt like they weren’t as active as we expected and let us move. We need to improve, ”said Salin.
National team got bad news the day before the game. Finland’s top game leaders Petteri Koponen and Edon Maxhuni were removed from the assembly due to coronavirus infections.
But the misfortune of another is the possibility of another. There was a strong opinion in Espoo about who will become the number one player in the basketball team when Koponen’s career comes to an end.
Miro Little17, came on the field at the beginning of the second quarter and at the same time made his men’s national team debut as the youngest Finnish basketball player of this millennium.
His first third was left in the lead, but after that, strong performances followed one another. Little fetched an offensive rebound, launched a quick attack with exploitation and led Finland to the 21–17 lead after just over 13 minutes of play.
Him before the Finnish game had led Ilari Seppälä and Jamar Wilson.
Little’s athleticism and physicality at the age of 17 are the best quality in Finland’s back guard, although he has not yet managed to score.
Little collected a total of six basket passes, three rebounds and two exploits in just over twelve minutes of play.
“It’s awesome. I have no words. Awesome, cool, ”Little described his mood.
Head coach Henrik Dettmann said he had a discussion with Little earlier this week about his career prospects.
“I predicted for him that maybe next summer there might be an opportunity to play in the men’s national match. I predicted wrong, as seen. Yes, we had seen in practice that Miro is ready to play, but the game is always a game, and when faced with players of this level, it’s a pretty tough meter, ”Dettmann chuckled.
Did Friday change Little’s thoughts on whether he could join Finland in next autumn’s European Championships?
“Yeah and no. In the sense that my attitude is the same. You have to work every day, ”Little replied.
Finland the main tactical goal for the match was to stop Slovenia’s fast-paced game. It worked.
“Our kit worked. And that’s where Miro’s contribution was perhaps most important, that when we had a ball player defending that level of defender, it helped. And when the kit worked, it took the tempo away from the opponent, ”Dettmann said.
Koponen and Maxhuni are in quarantine for five days, so they won’t be able to play in Monday’s away game in Slovenia either.
According to the International Basketball Federation, players participating in the World Cup qualifiers were subjected to a PCR test the day before the game if they had not contracted a corona after 1 December.
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