It was not necessarily the most enticing poster of the EuroBasket round of 16, but Finland – Croatia this Sunday afternoon still offered us a big game in the match between the two Jazz players, Lauri Markkanen and Bojan Bogdanovic. And in this little game, it was the first that exploded, taking with him the Finnish selection towards the quarters!
If Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic rightly represent the great figures of this Euro 2022, we will have to think about adding Lauri Markkanen on Mount Rushmore of the competition. Because what he is accomplishing in the jersey of Finland is just sensational. The new Jazz player – recently transferred against Donovan Mitchell – had already released a very very heavy first round to allow Finland to finish in a good second place behind the great Serbia of Jokic, synonymous with confrontation against Croatia in round of 16 on Sunday. There, he has just pushed the limits again by simply releasing one of the ten greatest offensive performances in the history of EuroBasket: 43 points, 19/29 in shooting (2/6 at 3-pointers, 3/4 in free throws), 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 0 loss of ball in 32 minutes.
As you can imagine, the Croats did not survive.
Knowing a little delay in the ignition while Markkanen started his festival and Sasu Salin chained the banderillas behind the arc, the Bojan Bogdanovic band was unable to impose their basketball, frustrated and helpless against the level of number 23 with curly hair. Yet Bojan overall did the job (23 points at 7/14, 5 rebounds but 5 turnovers), Dario Saric entered the game well (12 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists), Jaleen Smith brought his 17 points and Krunoslav Simon – 37 brushes – showed that he was still there (11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals in 20 minutes). The only time we really saw Croatia get the better of Finland was when Lauri Markkanen was on the bench in the second half of the first quarter, allowing Damir Mulaomerovic’s men to recover from their initial deficit. But every time the Finnish star was on the pitch, it was son show.
Coast-to-coast dunks, mid-distance shots, back-to-basket play, putback, tip-in with 0.1 seconds on the clock, banderillas from the parking lot… Markkanen did absolutely everything to the Croatians, all that under the eyes of a Ivica Zubac limited to just three minutes of play because embarrassed by a sore ankle contracted during the group match against Ukraine. Croatia has never managed to find even the beginning of a solution to limit the impact of Lauri, in a state of grace from the first to the last minute. And as a symbol, it was Markkanen who definitely put the lid on with a… stepback-3 30 seconds from the end to give Finland a ten-point lead (94-84). Lauri can raise his arms to the sky and harangue the crowd, what he has just realized is just historic.
Well supported by Sasu Salin (17 points) and Edon Maxhuni (16 points), Lauri Markkanen is now allowing Finland to continue their crazy adventure. In its history, it has never done better than a sixth place at the Euro but with a Lauri at this level, nothing seems impossible. The Spaniards can already tremble.