TAMPERE (Finland) - Finland won for the second time in a row in the build-up to their appearance at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Valencia, and did so once again by the skin of their teeth.
After leading Latvia by as many as 18 points, the Susijengi had to pull out all stops at the end to hold on for a 90-84 victory.
Latvia overcame the absence of key players last year to finish fifth at the FIBA Basketball World Cup last year and will need to do the same if they are to reach the Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament Paris 2024.
They are missing Kristaps Porzingis for the second consecutive summer with the recently crowned NBA champion of Boston having undergone surgery to repair, according to the Celtics, a "torn retinaculum and dislocated posterior tibialis tendon."
Latvia will also not have one of their most important players at the World Cup in Andrejs Grazulis, who hasn't recovered from an injury he picked up while playing in Italy. Grazulis led Latvia in scoring last summer at 14.4 points per game.
On the positive side, however, is the presence of both Arturs Zagars and Rihards Lomazs. Both are back from knee injuries and looking ready. Zagars had operation on the medial collateral ligament in his left knee after getting hurt shortly after the World Cup.
Lomazs was effectively Latvia's leading scorer at 15.6 points per game in the World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers after hitting 43.1 percent of his attempts from long range. He played in 10 of the Qualifiers.
Latvia coach Luca Banchi went up against his assistant at Virtus Bologna, Finland coach Lassi Tuovi, in this friendly. Tuovi was only recently confirmed as the new coach of Japanese B.LEAGUE side Yokohama B. Corsairs.
He coached the Susijengi to a thrilling 73-70 win over New Zealand earlier this week, a game won when Sasu Salin buried a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Story of the Game
Despite opening up an 18-point lead and being still in front, 76-63, with seven minutes remaining, Finland fans had to sweat it out. They had only beaten New Zealand a couple of days ago after a buzzer-beating three-pointer from captain Sasu Salin.
Rodions Kurucs capped a furious fightback with a layup to close the deficit to 86-84 with 55 seconds remaining.
Latvia then got the ball back after Elias Valtonen charged into Rihards Lomazs with 37 seconds to play. Rolands Smits, however, missed a potential game-tying layup and Finland's Edon Maxhuni made four free-throws down the stretch to clinch victory. His last three free-throws came after he was fouled attempting a 3-pointer with three seconds to go.
Despite the absence of Salin in the lineup on Friday night, the Susijengi still had their shooters. Maxhuni set the tone with a couple of 3-pointers and Finland made four of their first five and led 28-21 at the end of the first quarter. Zagars, who dished out a World Cup record 17 assists in the Fifth-Place Game triumph over Lithuania last year in Manila, had three helpers in the first quarter.
Finland kept their noses in front and led 42-28 at half-time with high-flying forward Olivier Nkamhoua's 10 points and Alexander Madsen's 9 leading the way.
Lomazs had 8 points to pace Latvia at half-time.
The Player of the Game
Nkamhoua, in his first game for the Finns this summer, underlined his importance to the cause with 21 points. He was 5 of 6 from the floor and made both of his attempts from behind the arc.
Nkamhoua, who played at the World Cup last year, was 9 of 11 at the charity stripe.
The Stats of the Game
Finland have a reputation for knocking down 3-pointers and they did, drilling 11 of 26 (42 percent),and that was without prolific marksman, Salin. They were able to win despite being out-rebounded, 39-31.
Their defensive pressure was not overwhelming, yet Finland did score 31 points off turnovers. And at the all-important free-throw line, Finland made 23 of 28 (82 percent) attempts while Latvia were just 16 of 23 (69 percent)
Latvia captain, Davis Bertans, had 10 points but missed all eight of his attempts from long range.
The Takeaways from the Game
Without superstar Lauri Markkanen at the OQT in Valencia, Finland will no doubt be missing their talisman yet Nkamhoua's performance has given the national team further hope they can challenge Poland and the Bahamas in Group B and perhaps win the event to make it to Paris.
Spain will be favorites overall yet the Susijengi have plenty of experience, which has been on display this week in the games against the Tall Blacks and Latvians.
Finland have had a habit of blowing big leads, something that happened at the World Cup against Japan and also against Latvia tonight, although the Susijengi survived this time.
There is also no end to the talent pool in Finland. Miro Little, who has transferred from Baylor to play this season for Utah, where Finnish legend Hanno Mottoloa shot to fame before playing in the NBA, came off the bench to run the point and finished with 13 points. Little played for Finland when they reached the Quarter-Finals of FIBA EuroBasket 2022 and he was also on last year's World Cup team.
Even more talent is coming up because there was also the presence for the second consecutive game of 17-year-old Miikka Muurinen, whose father Kimmo Muurinen played for Finland in numerous games, including at he 2014 World Cup in Bilbao. Mikka's mother, Jenni Laaksonen, was a long-time Finland women's national team player. She takes the credit for coaching Mikka during his youth days in Järvenpää.
As for Latvia, they are not turning on all cylinders yet but Banchi has been excellent at the helm of the Baltic team and is surely going to make the tough but correct decisions when it comes to his squad.
Lomazs's return is particularly welcome.
Someone is going to have to pick up the torch and help carry Latvia, however, since Grazulis is unavailable.
FIBA