Heartbreak in Croatia as Markkanen dagger three sends Sweden through

MUNICH (Germany) - "Love thy neighbor" went to a whole new level in Group C on Sunday night. First, it was the Croats who were Slovenia's biggest fans in Sweden, then it came to the Swedes cheering for Finland.

As Sweden's Ludvig Hakanson and Pelle Larsson misfired on potential go-ahead three-pointers in quick succession in the dying seconds against Slovenia, it was the Croats who breathed a sigh of relief. Had Sweden made one of those two shots, Croatia would've been out of contention for the Second Round even before their game started.

But Slovenia felt the Croatian support from Rijeka - a city in Croatia just south of the Slovenian border - where the men in red-and-white were warming up for their matchup with Finland. Slovenia prevailed, 84-81 over the Swedes and the table was set for media to use the "with a little help from their neighbors" cliché when reporting on the last day of action in Group C.

Indeed. It was the neighborly help. Just not the one between Slovenia and Croatia.

 

Croatia opted to help one-pass away on a Petteri Koponen drive. The man they left open in the corner was none other than Lauri Markkanen, whose fourth triple of the night proved to be the game-winning one.

The hosts in Rijeka did have two more chances to win, First on a Bojan Bogdanovic three-pointer. It did not fall. Then, after a foul was called as time expired, Croatia could've forced overtime on a pair of Ivica Zubac free throws. He missed the first. Missed the second one intentionally in hopes of a tip-in, but the Susijengi secured the board and celebrated an 81-79 win on the road.

A big win for Finland. An even bigger one for Sweden, as they are pulled along to the Second Round, finishing at 2-4, just ahead of the 1-5 Croatia.

 

"We had everything in our hands. We missed 13 free throws, in a game like this it was too much. We defeated ourselves," Croatian head coach Damir Mulaomerovic barely had strength to come up with anything.

Two of those missed free throws were by Lovro Gnjidic, the 21-year-old, at 79-78  just moments before Markkanen knocked down the big three-pointer for the win. For Mulaomerovic, this wasn't on Gnjidic, but more on the rest of the guys who failed to execute what was requested from them during the timeout.

"We said the ball has to go out to Bogdanovic and Hezonja, I don't know how it got to Gnjidic. But I don't blame him, he's young, this is growing up."

While Croatia will be dropping down to FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers in August, Sweden will join Slovenia and Finland in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers Second Round at the same time.

But here's the best part. This group saw a juggernaut such as Croatia drop out. It saw Luka Doncic and Goran Dragic bring back some FIBA EuroBasket 2017 vibes for Slovenia. And it saw Sweden tell the Cinderella story by staying in the hunt for the World Cup.

The fact that Finland actually won the group at 5-1 doesn't even make the podium in terms of breaking news in this pool.

"We're a team that never stops believing. Our guys showed character, it was just an unbelievable ending," Sasu Salin said.

"Basketball is a game of momentum. At the end, it was about one shot, one free throw, one rebound, and we were a little bit more lucky," Finnish head coach Lassi Tuovi added.

 

At 5-1, they will be tied with Germany at the top of the new group, just ahead of the 4-2 Slovenia. Israel are two wins behind Finland, while Estonia and Sweden round up the group at 2-4. The wolf pack made it to the World Cup back in 2014, and that Markkanen bomb from beyond the arc could prove decisive in sending them back to the flagship tournament nine years later.

FIBA