Serbia entered EuroBasket 2025 as the favorites to win it all. Instead, Nikola Jokić and company crashed out of the tournament in the Round of 16 on Saturday after a historic upset loss to Lauri Markkanen and Finland, 92-86.
Jokić was his usual self, and finished with 33 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals on a hyper-efficient 9 of 13 from the field, while Miami Heat forward Nikola Jović added 20 points, four rebounds and four assists. No one else on Serbia was up to the task, however, as Bogdan Bogdanović’s absence came sharply into focus. The rest of the team besides Jokić and Jović scored 33 points on 11 of 35 (31.4%) shooting.
Bogdanović, an eight-year NBA veteran and long-time national team star, tore his hamstring during Serbia’s win over Portugal in the group stage and had to return to the United States for treatment. While his injury dealt a major blow to Serbia’s hopes of lifting the trophy later this month, no one expected them to lose this early.
Serbia’s injury issues should take nothing away from Finland’s performance. The Finns were ready to go from the opening tip and jumped out to a double-digit lead within the opening three minutes. Even after Serbia battled back to take the lead and go ahead by six early in the second half, Finland refused to fold.
The teams traded baskets down the stretch — there were 15 lead changes and eight ties in the game — until Elias Valtonen gave Finland some breathing room with a putback and a 3-pointer in the final 90 seconds. Markkanen then iced the game at the free-throw line.
“Amazing night. What can I say. We just believed in each other today and just made it happen,” Valtonen said. “You have to shoot the ball when you are open. A couple of looks came to me, they left me open, so I just stepped up and shot with confidence.”
Markkanen, the best Finnish basketball player ever and the only player from his country to be named an NBA All-Star, delivered on the biggest stage of his career. He played in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with Arizona, but has never been to the playoffs during his eight-year NBA career. The closest he came was two Play-In Tournament games with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2022.
Against Serbia on Saturday, Markkanen showed why the Utah Jazz have been so desperate to keep ahold of him throughout their rebuild. He poured in 29 points and added eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Finland has never finished higher than sixth at EuroBasket, and that was back in 1967 when the country hosted the competition. In order to reach the Final Four for the first time, they’ll likely have to pull off another major upset in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. There, they’ll face the winner of France vs. Georgia.
Serbia, on the other hand, will be left ruing another disappointing result in a major tournament. They lost in the final of the 2014 World Cup, the final of the 2016 Olympics, the final of EuroBasket 2017 and the final of the 2023 World Cup. Perhaps most notably, they also blew a 17-point lead to the United States in the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics last summer, and had to settle for a bronze medal in that tournament.
