Men s Basketball Team beat Serbia in the European Championship, Markanin is worthy of the first player Jokic

In the 2025 Men's Basketball European Championship 1/8 finals, Finland team played against Serbia, and Finland team started the first quarter with a perfect start of 11-1. Markanin contributed 11 points in a single quarter, helping the team to end the first quarter with a 28-24 lead. Serbia relied on Aframovich's two three-pointers to narrow the gap, but Finland always maintained an efficient offense.

Serbia took the lead 6-0 in the second quarter, and Jokic performed strongly in a single quarter. At the end of the half, Serbia led by 4 points 48-44. Finland's offense was restricted, but Serbia failed to widen the gap, and the two sides entered a tug-of-war.

The Finnish team used counterattack and three-point shooting to overtake the score for a while, and led 68-66 after the three quarters. Jokic scored only 6 points in the third quarter, while Markkanen also contributed 6 points, and the defense intensity of both sides increased.

The two sides fell into scoring drought at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and Jokic broke the deadlock at the basket, but Murinen made two consecutive three-pointers to help Finland maintain the lead. Jokic once led the team to overtake, but Finnish team Vartonin scored 8 points in a row in the final quarter, and Markanen made all six free throws to secure the victory. In the end, Finland won 92-86 and advanced to the quarterfinals.

‌Finland team player data:

Laurie Markanen: 29 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals (8 shots in 24, 2 of 6 three-pointers, 11 of 12 free throws)‌

‌Valtonen: 13 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists (8 points in the final quarter)‌

‌Other players: 5 players scored in double digits, and the team's rebounding advantage was obvious (20 frontcourt rebounds)‌

‌Serbia Team player data‌

‌Nicola Jokic: 33 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals (9 of 13 shots, 1 of 2 three-pointers, 14 of 19 free throws)‌

‌Jovic: 20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists‌

‌Other players‌: Except for Jokic, the team only scored 53 points, with an outside shooting percentage of 24%‌

After this game, Serbia was eliminated by his opponent and stopped in the round of 16. This is also the second time Serbia has stopped at the quarterfinals of 16 in the European Championships. In the 2022 European Championships, Serbia lost to Italy in the knockout round and ended at the quarterfinals of 16. Jokic averaged 21.7 points, 10.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.7 blocks per game.

At the same time, since Serbia and France were both eliminated and failed to meet, Finland will play against Georgia in 8-4. Markanen has a chance to lead the team to break through to the semi-finals, which is the best record in team history. After the game, Finnish player Salin was interviewed.

Saring said of the victory: "We did it, we expected it, but no one else thought it, so we were very happy. We have been in a bad physical condition in the last two games against Lithuania and Germany. Today we have to stand up and each of us has done it. It's a very united team victory."

Saring said when asked if this is the greatest victory in the history of the national team: "Yes, this is definitely one of them. We plan to move forward with this starting point, and this victory is just the first step."