Serbian basketball players are still undefeated in the Eurobasket qualifiers! Although the match in Finland had no result significance, the Eagles managed to beat Finland in a real NBA match after a turnaround, powered by Filip Petrušev, who broke his career record in the national team, as well as Aleksa Avramović, who was there when it was most important – 95:105!
We watched an extremely efficient, one could even say an NBA match in the “Espo Metro Arena” in the suburbs of Helsinki. On the other side were extremely motivated Finns, who, to be honest, shot more for three than for two points tonight, and this is not surprising, if we take into account that their distance shot served them well, and they almost constantly held between 40 and 50% realization, and only towards the very end did they “fall” in that segment.
The figure of 57 points at halftime was a direct consequence of this, but in the continuation, Serbia managed to establish control in defense, which was of course crucial to achieve a turnaround in this match. The attack continued to serve our guys well to the same extent as in the opening 20 minutes.
Filip Petrušev was also in a good mood, then Balša Koprivica woke up in the continuation in the racket, and during the key series, Mario Nakić connected some important points, which eventually led our team to a slightly more comfortable advantage.
Ultimately, Petrušev was the most efficient player of the match, as he scored 19 points during the first half, and then managed to reach 34 points scored with eight rebounds, which is, after all, as we ourselves said, a record in the national team jersey.
On the other hand, the aforementioned Aleksa Avramović added 21 points with nine assists, while Dejan Davidovac and Uroš Trifunović scored 12 points each tonight. On the other side, in the Finnish jersey, Mikael Jantunen stood out with 18 points, Olivije Nkamua scored one less, while Edon Madžuni and Sasu Salin scored 15 points each.
6 MIN = 12 PTS 🔥
— Basketball Sphere (@BSphere_) February 21, 2025
Filip Petrusev is putting on a show for Serbia! 😤🇷🇸#EuroBasket pic.twitter.com/s20dGvOA4O
The first quarter started in a fairly equal manner, where the Finns managed to gain a starting advantage thanks to several three-pointers, but Serbia managed to turn it around through Petrušev, who managed to score as many as 12 points in six minutes.
However, a slight drop in concentration caused the Finns to take the lead at the end of the quarter, as they reached several baskets from the counter, which led the Wolves to a minimal +2.
The second quarter was in the rank of the NBA league, as we saw as many as 58 points from the two teams, and it was not known who scored more three-pointers during this period. Salin, Valtonen, Madžuni, and Nkamua were extremely motivated for the Finns, so it is somehow not surprising that the team from the very north of Europe had the advantage after 20 minutes of basketball.
However, it is obvious that Pešić at halftime with his coaching staff managed to completely turn things in our favor, as the Eagles’ defense in the second half was far better, especially during the third quarter.
Then Finland remained at only 14 points scored, Serbia then scored as many as 28 points, and the key difference at those moments was made by the aforementioned Nakić, as well as Balša Koprivica, although the performance of Davidovac, as well as Petrušev himself, should not be omitted. The whole team at those moments played as a team, excellent, organized and before the final ten minutes it was +8 for our team.
34 PTS 8 REB 4 AST
— FIBA EuroBasket (@EuroBasket) February 21, 2025
Filip Petrusev looked unstoppable as @KSSrbije 🇷🇸 remain undefeated!#EuroBasket x #MakeYourMark pic.twitter.com/jPm7NozAlG
However, the last quarter started the way the Eagles did not expect, as Finland opened this period with 13:2 and took the lead, primarily thanks to the unreal Edon Madžuni, who hit three-pointers from whatever position he found himself.
Svetislav Pešić found a solution for that, took Madžuni out of the game, and after an equal on about four minutes to the end, Serbia’s series followed, primarily through Petrušev and Avramović, which ultimately resolved the question of the winner of this match.
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Source: Telegraf, Foto: FIBA