Markkanen drops 30 as Finland end campaign on a high note

OKINAWA (Japan) - Lauri Markkanen starred once more as Finland concluded their FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 campaign on a high note by way of a 90-75 victory over Venezuela in the final day of the classification games, Saturday at the Okinawa Arena.

 

The Utah Jazz forward finished with 32 points for back-to-back 30-point performances, together with 9 rebounds and a block as he led the fourth-quarter pull-away to steer the youth-laden Susijengi to their second straight victory after going blank in the First Round.

Turning point: Markkanen took matters into his own hands after the opposition got to within just six points early in the final period. He nailed a three-pointer off an Ilari Seppala assist to lead a 14-3 assault en route to an 85-68 lead with under four minutes left to play.

TCL Player of the Game: Markkanen missed just one of his 12 free-throw attempts and shot 9-of-13 from the floor, including a 3-of-6 clip from beyond the arc, good enough for a 33 EFF rating.

Stats don't lie: Venezuela made five more three-pointers than Finland (10) but the latter shared the ball much better, racking up 25 assists. That kind of ball movement enabled the team of Coach Lassi Tuovi to convert 52-percent of their shots from the floor.

Bottomline: The Finns finished this World Cup with a 2-3 record, which is an improvement from their campaign in the 2014 edition in Spain as they only won once in five games.

Venezuela, on the other hand, ended the tourney winless in five games, a far cry from their showing in the previous edition in China four years ago that saw them go 2-3.

They said: "We knew that this is a difficult, different kind of a tea. You need to be disciplined. Shooting 47-percent in 15 threes made, they made it a tough night. On the other hand, I really think that defensively, we played the best game of the tournament. We found confidence for our basketball today than in the previous games. We're proud. The wheels are rolling, and we're moving on with this group. It was a bug tournament for many of us and we'll take everything we learned with us." - Lassi Tuovi, Head Coach, Finland

"Of course, happy about the victory. All the credit to Venezuela, they didn't make it easy for us. They came to the game like they did in the previous ones, shooting a lot of threes getting to the basket aggressively. But I think we did a good job from the beginning. Couple of bad moments but we got them fast and kept the lead pretty much during the game all the time. Showed some character, of course. Happy about the victory. Nice way to finish the tournament with a win." - Sasu Salin, Finland

"It was a tough loss for us. It was a team that played really hard. It was difficult for us to stop them in the paint. Today, as we did in the whole tournament, we gave our best, played really hard. It wasn't enough. But, we will leave the World Cup with our heads up. It was, I think, a really good experience for us. As a group, as a team, as individuals, we learned a lot.  That's what we're taking from the whole tournament." - David Cubillan, Venezuela

Press conference:

 

FIBA