Greece vs Finland – Preview & Prediction (Sep. 14, 2025)

Greece came to this tournament with ambitions to fight for a medal, their first since 2009. It must be said, that’s a very long drought considering the players this national team has had in the past. Of course, whenever he is on the team, absolutely everything depends on Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is the driving force and main pillar of this squad. That was also the case in this championship — whenever he didn’t play or wasn’t at his best, the team struggled a lot and couldn’t achieve the desired results. Simply put, this team lacks quite a lot, and it can even be said that it’s an achievement in itself that they are competing for the bronze medal. Kostas Sloukas is in decline, which was evident during this season as well, and when he is not at his peak, Greece lacks creativity, since Vassilis Toliopoulos is not on the level required to carry a team at such a high stage.

These problems in offense were particularly visible in the semifinal against Turkey, when they failed to produce any coherent offense. Already at the very start of the second quarter, Greece had 12 turnovers, which led to a large number of easy points for the opponent. Due to their stagnant offense, Greece is not able to easily recover from double-digit deficits. Against Turkey, they fell behind by double digits early, and only for a few minutes in the second quarter managed to cut the lead to below 10 points, but by halftime the gap had already grown to a very difficult margin to overcome. The entire second half was practically a formality, as if they were just waiting for the game to end so they could leave the court. If they want to win a medal — which would certainly be a success for them — they will have to deliver a significantly better performance, both offensively and defensively. One positive factor is that Finland doesn’t really have players who can slow down Greece’s best player.

Finland came to this EuroBasket as a team that was given some chances to spring a surprise, but honestly, very few people expected them to make it this far, into the battle for third place. Apart from Lauri Markkanen, Finland doesn’t have a player who can make a difference at this level of basketball. From the very start of the preparation period, Markkanen showed he was in phenomenal rhythm and form, proving himself as the true leader of the team, someone his teammates could rely on. That realization — that they could depend on their best player — seemed to further unify the Finnish squad, who showcased all their qualities and achieved the best result in their history at continental championships.

However, the games against the strongest teams in this tournament showed that Finland still lacks the quality to consistently compete at the highest level. Their only win came against Serbia, while in the games against Germany and Lithuania they were far from victory. In the semifinals, they held a lead in the first quarter, but once they fell behind, it was extremely difficult to expect them to come back. Especially considering that Germany managed to completely shut down Finland’s best player. Markkanen recorded his two worst performances of the tournament against Germany, a team with players capable of countering his strengths. The main task for Finland is to find a way to make their best player effective in the bronze-medal match — but that will not be easy at all, given who will be guarding him.