Basketball | Spain knows the danger of Finland and Markkanen: “Makes you crazy”

Berlin

Finland The national men’s basketball team will play one of the biggest games in its history on Tuesday, when it will face Spain in the quarter-finals of the European Championship. Spain, one of the global basketball powers, is a long-time EC champion (three golds since 2009, the last medal in 2005), but still there is no threat from the Spanish camp before the meeting with Finland.

“Preparing for this match has been particularly difficult. The opponent is a team that plays an atypical but very effective game. Excellent throwers and a world-class star”, Spain’s Italian head coach Sergio Scariolo thought the Spanish newspaper Marcan on the eve of the match by.

“The match will be very demanding for the players. I hope and expect that we have maximum respect in the game [vastustajaa kohtaan] and maximum hardness. Because if you let them [Suomen] play, it’s a team that drives you crazy and out of your mind by sinking a three after running 23 seconds into the first [hyökkäysajasta] like headless chickens. It’s a difficult team, and we’ll see if we’re mentally ready for what the EC quarterfinals require.”

The world-class star mentioned by Scariolo is, of course Lauri Markkanenwho has enjoyed the games with an average of 27.8 points and who scored as many as 43 points against Croatia in the quarterfinals.

“He must be defended very wisely and accurately so that gaps do not appear elsewhere. It’s not so much about defending him, it’s about the size [Suomen] about the team’s defense, because they have the darkest throwers, other than [Sasu] Salin and [Petteri] Koponenwho are extremely good throwers.”