Ergin Ataman's Turkey proved wrong those who doubted its potential from the start of Eurobasket 2025. By tying Latvia 93-73 in Riga, it showed that it has all the elements to star in an open and uncertain competition in which several teams claim the same chances of distinction.
Especially in the second half of the game, it was excellent and with Panathinaikos' Cedi Osman as the leading scorer (20 points, 4/7 three-pointers) it forced the home crowd to silence. Of course, Sipahi (19 points, 5/5 points), Sengun (16 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists) and Larkin (15 points, 3/5 points, 6 rebounds) also contributed a lot to this deafening +20, while Porzingis barely reached 10 points with 3/12 shots and 6 turnovers. The truth is, the Latvian star is disappointing.
The first 100 from Germany
Earlier, it seemed unlikely that ambitious Germany would be threatened by the limited capabilities of Montenegro. Even the three-point gap at halftime did not cause concern, given that the world champions followed with a 33-12 third-quarter lead and a 106-76 aggregate lead.
Obst's three-point outburst (5/6) completely defined the course of the match and also destroyed the Balkans' chances of a surprise in Tampere. Wagner and Schröder had a combined 43 points on 15-of-28 shooting, while Nikola Vucevic played at a triple-double pace (23 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists).
The genuine and… Portuguese Valantiounas
Meanwhile, Jonas Valanciunas will lead Lithuania in the tournament, and a first sign of how much Lithuania needs him was his performance in the 90-74 win over Great Britain in the same group.
The great center, who flirted heavily with Panathinaikos a few weeks ago, had 18 points and 9 rebounds in just 21:16 of playing time on the court, opening the gap in a match where the difference in power on the court was reflected in the Lithuanians' 26 more rebounds (57-31).
FIFA
The Czech Republic fell into the trap that Kurtinaitis' team avoided. With just 13 assists for 19 turnovers and only Vit Krejci's double figures (10 points), the Eastern Europeans barely reached 50 points and were defeated by Portugal (62-50) in the Riga group.
The Iberians don't have Cristiano Ronaldo or even Bernardo Silva in basketball. Nevertheless, Celtics' Nemias Keta with 23 points, 18 rebounds and 4 blocks did his job very well, taking advantage of the absence of a similar size on the opposing front line. This was the first victory of the Portuguese in Eurobasket after 18 years!
The results of Group A
- Czech Republic – Portugal 50-62
- Latvia – Turkey 73-93
The program
- 21:15 Serbia – Estonia (Novasports Start)
The rating
- Turkey 1-0 (+20)
- Portugal 1-0 (+12)
- Czech Republic 0-1 (-12)
- Latvia 0-1 (-20)
- Serbia 0-0
- Estonia 0-0
The results of the B group
- Great Britain – Lithuania 70-94
- Montenegro – Germany 76-106
The program
- 20.30 Sweden – Finland (Novasports 4HD)
The rating
- Germany 1-0 (+30)
- Lithuania 1-0 (+24)
- Great Britain 0-1 (-24)
- Montenegro 0-1 (-30)
- Finland 0-0
- Sweden 0-0
The program of the 2nd day
- 15:00 Israel – Iceland Novasports 4
- 15:00 Georgia – Spain Novasports Start & ΕΡΤ1
- 18:00 Belgium – France Novasporrts 4
- 18:15 Bosnia – Cyprus Novasports Start
- 21:30 Slovenia – Poland Novasports 4
- 21:30 Greece – Italy Novasports Start & ΕΡΤ News
