Tigers

After five grueling days of intense, do-or-die games, four teams have emerged as winners of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament and booked a trip to the Olympics.&nbsp;
Among the teams making their way to Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games are Brazil, Greece, Puerto Rico, and Spain after winning their respective tournaments in 4 various locations around the world. Brazil won in Riga, Latvia while Greece, Puerto Rico, and Spain each defended their home courts in Piraeus, San Juan, and Valencia respectively.&nbsp;
<a href="https://fiba.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7033084a6897e1c399b667eb5&amp;id=89fd1b8297&amp;e=2fb0566584">Brazil is celebrating being crowned winners of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 in Latvia</a> and securing a coveted place in Paris 2024. They will line up at the Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament for the 16th time after they spoiled the party in Riga for the home fans. A stunning opening quarter, which included 8 of 8 from downtown and a half-court buzzer beater, gave Brazil a commanding 34-11 advantage over Latvia, and they never looked back.
Sailing to a memorable 94-69 success, they were powered by forward Leo Meindl with a near double-double of 21 points and 9 rebounds. His teammate Bruno Caboclo also impressed with 21 points, which sealed the deal for him to be deservedly <a href="https://fiba.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7033084a6897e1c399b667eb5&amp;id=6024459c3d&amp;e=2fb0566584">crowned the TISSOT MVP of the competition</a>. When Brazil line up at Paris 2024, they will do so in Group B, where they will face host nation France, reigning FIBA Basketball World Cup champions Germany, and Japan.
Greece will compete in the Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament for the first time since 2008, after their victory at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 Greece. <a href="https://fiba.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7033084a6897e1c399b667eb5&amp;id=6f9cccd2c1&amp;e=2fb0566584">They clinched their fourth win, 80-69 over Croatia</a>, on Sunday in front of 11,810 fans at home in the final of the event.
Greece jumped into the lead soon after the start and led for most of the encounter, although they were only able to truly shake off the resilient Croatia late in the final frame, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nick Calathes, and Giorgos Papagiannis.
<a href="https://fiba.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7033084a6897e1c399b667eb5&amp;id=8d44cbbee0&amp;e=2fb0566584">Antetokounmpo, the Greek superstar of the Milwaukee Bucks, was named TISSOT MVP</a> of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 in Greece. He led the way for his team in the final with 23 points and 8 rebounds, while averaging 22.5 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists in the tournament. Greece will be placed in Group A and will face Australia, Canada, and Spain.
<a href="https://fiba.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7033084a6897e1c399b667eb5&amp;id=8f7204be13&amp;e=2fb0566584">Puerto Rico triumphed at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 at home</a> in San Juan to clinch a spot in the Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament for the first time since 2004.&nbsp;
Nelson Colon's men were helped by 13,504 passionate supporters who showed up in numbers to will the home side to a 79-68 victory against Lithuania in Sunday's Final. The one-two punch of Jose Alvarado and Tremont Waters proved unstoppable for the Europeans, as Alvarado led the way with a game-high 23 points and Waters chipped in with 18.
<a href="https://fiba.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7033084a6897e1c399b667eb5&amp;id=fe2ec4cb22&amp;e=2fb0566584">Alvarado was named the TISSOT MVP</a> of the tournament after averaging 16.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.3 steals, as the hosts went a perfect four-of-four in San Juan.
In the Olympics, Puerto Rico will slot into Group C alongside defending Olympic champions USA, Nikola Jokic-led Serbia, and South Sudan, who will be making their first-ever appearance at the Games.
Spain ensured they were victorious in front of their home crowd to celebrate booking their spot at another Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament. Spain, who were Olympic medalists in 1984, 2008, 2012, and 2016, <a href="https://fiba.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7033084a6897e1c399b667eb5&amp;id=fb071af6ca&amp;e=2fb0566584">defeated the Bahamas 86-78</a> in Sunday's final in Valencia in front of over 7,000 supporters.
Lorenzo Brown played an important role in the victory with 18 points, including four three-pointers, helping to spark a pivotal run late in the first half. Deandre Ayton posted 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Buddy Hield contributed 19 points and 6 rebounds to lead the Bahamas. However, their efforts were not enough to overcome Spain's experience in such elimination games.
<a href="https://fiba.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7033084a6897e1c399b667eb5&amp;id=e6ad446b5f&amp;e=2fb0566584">Santi Aldama collected TISSOT MVP honors</a> with 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 in Spain as the hosts won all four games for a perfect week. Rudy Fernandez, 39, is set to become the first male basketball player to compete in six Olympic basketball tournaments.
Spain's return to another Olympics sees them land in Group A alongside Australia, Canada, and Greece.
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The Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament will commence on July 27 in Lille, concluding with the Final and Third-Place Game at the Bercy Arena in Paris on August 10.

After five grueling days of do-or-die games, four teams have won the FIBA OQT and booked a trip to the Olympics.

2024 FIBA OQT: Brazil, Greece, Puerto Rico, Spain book a ticket to Paris

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Two of the more notable games on Friday&rsquo;s college basketball schedule are taking place on an aircraft carrier and in a baseball stadium.
No. 2 Gonzaga will face Michigan State on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in the San Diego harbor to celebrate Veterans Day. Wisconsin is playing Stanford at American Family Field, the retractable-roof park that is home to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Staging neutral-site games in non-traditional venues isn&rsquo;t new. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has scheduled games at many different sites over the past two decades.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been &lsquo;Outside the Box U&rsquo; for 20 years and other people are catching up,&rdquo; Izzo said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s good, and that&rsquo;s why I didn&rsquo;t want to pass up this game.&rdquo;
Izzo&rsquo;s penchant for this began in 2003, when Michigan State lost to Kentucky in front of 78,129 fans at Ford Field, the home of the NFL&rsquo;s Detroit Lions. Soon enough, plenty of late-round NCAA Tournament games started taking place in football stadiums.
This won&rsquo;t be the first time Izzo has coached a game on an aircraft carrier.
Michigan State lost to top-ranked North Carolina in November 2011 on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson as President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama watched from courtside.
Stanford coach Jerod Haase was a North Carolina assistant coach for that 2011 game. Now, he&rsquo;s preparing his team to play the first basketball game at a baseball-only stadium since San Diego faced San Diego State in 2015 at Petco Park, home of the Padres.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an experience for our guys to talk about when they&rsquo;re old like me, about how they played in a baseball stadium,&rdquo; Haase said.
The offbeat settings come with potential obstacles, particularly when they&rsquo;re outdoors. The roof will be closed for the American Family Field doubleheader that includes a women&rsquo;s game between Wisconsin and Kansas State.
The 2011 North Carolina-Michigan State game on a carrier finished less than an hour before rain fell.
A year later, condensation on the respective courts wiped out an Ohio State-Marquette game aboard the decommissioned USS Yorktown in Charleston, South Carolina, and a Georgetown-Florida game aboard the USS Bataan in Gainesville, Florida. Florida and Georgetown did play the first half before the game was scrapped.
During that 2012-13 season, a Syracuse-San Diego State game aboard the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum was delayed two days due to rain. And, windy conditions affected 3-point shooting when it was played.
The teams involved believe the opportunity is worth the potential drawbacks.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few jumped at the chance when the idea of playing on a carrier was proposed.
&ldquo;Tom Izzo told me it was the coolest thing he&rsquo;s ever done,&rdquo; Few said. &ldquo;I said, &lsquo;OK, I&rsquo;m in.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard says his hopes of having the Badgers play a game at American Family Field started about 15 years ago, when he was an assistant coach and the stadium was known as Miller Park.
Various plans were discussed over the years.
&ldquo;We were going to do a doubleheader basketball-hockey and set up ice in the outfield,&rdquo; Gard said. &ldquo;Everything was on the table at one point in time.&rdquo;
Gard is about to realize that dream &mdash; minus an ice rink.
Wisconsin and Stanford practiced Thursday on a court that encompasses much of the ballpark&rsquo;s infield, with baskets in the vicinity of first base and third base.
The pitcher&rsquo;s mound was removed, and fans will sit in temporary stands courtside, as well as in some of the stadium&rsquo;s permanent seats.
&ldquo;Listening to our players as we walked up out of the dugout, what their reactions were, I think it turned out really, really good,&rdquo; Gard said.
Wisconsin forward Tyler Wahl, who has attended just one Brewers home game, tried to envision just what to expect on Friday.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited to see what it looks like with basketball, bringing a whole different crew of fans,&rdquo; Wahl said. &ldquo;Hopefully it will be cool.&rdquo;
It might not be a one-time deal.
Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger said he was hopeful that the contest was the first of many chances to host hoop games at the ballpark.
Gard says he&rsquo;d love to see an NCAA regional at American Family Field, though it could be tough to host that kind of event in late March while still having the ballpark&rsquo;s grass surface ready in time for baseball season.
For now, Wisconsin and Stanford are looking forward to a unique experience in an atypical early-season game. Michigan State and Gonzaga feel the same.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little bit old school and I believe the college education is much more than just what you learn on the classroom and the games themselves,&rdquo; Haase said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all the experiences around them. I think this provides that.&rdquo;
___
AP Writer Nicholas K. Geranios and AP Sports Writers Larry Lage and Bernie Wilson contributed to this report.

Two notable games on Friday’s college basketball schedule are taking place on an aircraft carrier and in a baseball stadium.

Unusual venues make non-conference games more memorable

EuroBasket 2022 is in the books, and this year's tournament was another reminder that a well-oiled team machine can still outlast the brightest individual stars on the planet.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic instantly made their countries favorites to win gold, and even had some of the best supporting casts in the field. But the final four squads &mdash; France, Germany, Poland and Spain &mdash; had one NBA All-Star on their rosters combined. The bracket stage was a true display of just how much basketball talent is spread around the globe.
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These six particularly stood out with some remarkable performances over three weeks. No former NBA All-Stars were considered; they obviously were among the best of the best. The following players might be less heralded in the United States, but any basketball fan should appreciate the runs they put together at EuroBasket.
Lorenzo Brown, Spain
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Spain took home the gold medal against France behind 27 points from Juancho Hernangomez. His brother Willy led the team in per-game scoring across the whole tournament. But Spain does not get to gold without Brown, an NBA castoff who has carved his niche in Europe over the past several years.&nbsp;
The 32-year-old guard averaged 15.2 points and 7.6 assists per contest. He dropped 29 points in a massive semifinal win against Germany, then had 14 points and 11 assists in the title bout. His veteran experience is apparent, and Spain creatively used Brown to keep France on its toes by running him off of ball-screens and mixing in pick-and-roll possessions. Brown in turn knew just when and where his teammates would be when France rotated. The above passes are exquisite; the third clip is my personal favorite.
Simone Fontecchio, Italy
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
For one last time in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EuroBasket?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EuroBasket</a> 2022: Pasta. Pizza. Fontecchio. 🇮🇹 21 PTS 5 REB 4/7 3FG% SIMONEFONTECCHIO gave a hard fight against France 💪 <a href="https://t.co/qT6FEkdMzm">pic.twitter.com/qT6FEkdMzm</a>
&mdash; FIBA (@FIBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBA/status/1570104678653779968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 14, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Want to talk about an underrated offseason signing? The Utah Jazz added Fontecchio, a 6-foot-8-inch wing, on a multi-year contract this summer, and if Utah fans checked in on Italy, they saw Fontecchio lighting it up beyond the arc. The 26-year-old canned 45.1% of his 7.3 threes attempted per game and averaged 19.4 points across the tournament.
Fontecchio is simply an entertaining scorer. He can pull up from long range with all sorts of dribble and spin moves and still get into his sweet shooting stroke. He's a solid cutter and transition player, and while not a highlight-reel dunker, he has an underrated level of explosion. I really think Fontecchio's going to suprise fans next season if the Jazz give him extended minutes.
Lauri Markkanen, Finland
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Most U.S. fans probably picture Markkanen as your prototypical stretch forward. At EuroBasket, he was&nbsp;so&nbsp;much more. Markkanen was one of the tournament's most dominant players, putting up 27.9 points and 8.1 rebounds while shooting 61.5% from two-point range and 40.5% behind the arc.&nbsp;
Talk about emptying the bag &mdash; Markkanen was posting up, facing up, flying off cuts, initiating with drives, stepping back and finishing. He had a massive 43-point showcase against Croatia where he appeared blatantly unstoppable. Maybe a run like this encourages Utah to experiment more with Markkanen's usage stateside.
Dzanan Musa, Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Once a first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets, Musa fell out of the NBA, but has settled in overseas. He averaged 21.4 points, 4.0 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game with his home country and really applied pressure as a driver. Musa frequently went at bigs in conservative coverages &mdash; including guys like Domantas Sabonis and Jonas Valanciunas &mdash; with his combination of quick-twitch handle and finishing touch.&nbsp;
Musa also made a noteworthy 45% of his triples. He's never had much of a three-point stroke up until last season in Liga ACB play, but it seems the swingman is really developing confidence. Musa is still just 23 and definitely has the ability to jump back into the NBA should teams pursue him.
Alperen Sengun, Turkey
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Turkey had a really fun run to the EuroBasket quarterfinals with the 20-year-old fueling the success. Sengun is on the smaller side of NBA centers, but against these opponents, he had more chances to physically dominate and go to work in the post. His speed on some of these spin moves is still incredible &mdash; just look at Hernangomez's reaction after this first bucket.
Sengun stymied teams with his post play and interior passing en route to 16.5 points per game. He's a secure cornerstone for the Houston Rockets at this point. Sure, it's fair to wonder how Sengun's skill set helps Houston once it reaches contender status. But there's no denying Sengun is amazing, regardless of his age, as a post scorer and passing big man.&nbsp;
Aleksandar Vezenkov, Bulgaria
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"Sasha" Vezenkov only played five EuroBasket contests after Bulgaria went 1-4 and missed out on the bracket stage. But he deserves a shoutout because he absolutely dominated his matchups. Vezenkov's box score line is bonkers: 27.0 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists while shooting 56.6% on twos and 40.5% on nearly 8 threes per game.
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The perimeter scoring is frankly ridiculous. Vezenkov is more than a stretch forward or a movement shooter. At 6-foot-9, he's got a stable enough handle to threaten teams by putting the ball on the floor. At the same time, he's got this absurd, quick lefty shot, and can contort himself all sorts of ways without compromising his form.&nbsp;
The Sacramento Kings quietly acquired the rights to Vezenkov from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for the No. 49 pick in this summer's NBA Draft (which became Isaiah Mobley). The 26-year-old reportedly won't come to the U.S. this summer, as he looks to defend a Greek League title with Olympiacos Piraeus and back up his All-EuroLeague First Team selection. But if you're thinking of tuning into some European hoops, Vezenkov should be considered a must-watch talent.

Alperen Sengun, Lauri Markkanen and Dzanan Musa were among the brightest stars at EuroBasket 2022.

EuroBasket 2022: 6 players who stood out in the tournament

BERLIN (AP) &mdash; For Spain, almost all of the names on the national team&rsquo;s roster have changed in recent years.
The expectations didn&rsquo;t. And neither did the results.
Juancho Hernangomez scored 27 points, his brother Willy Hernangomez added 14 and won tournament MVP honors, and Spain topped France 88-76 on Sunday to win the EuroBasket gold medal.
It was Spain&rsquo;s fourth European championship in its last six tries, all those golds coming under coach Sergio Scariolo.
Lorenzo Brown scored 14 points and had 11 assists for Spain, while Jaime Fernandez scored 13.
Evan Fournier led France &mdash; which also dropped the gold-medal game at the Tokyo Olympics to the U.S. last summer &mdash; with 23 points, with Thomas Heurtel scored 16 and Guerschon Yabusele added 13.
Rudy Gobert was held to only six points on just two shots from the field for France.
&ldquo;Spain played better from start to finish,&rdquo; Fournier said. &ldquo;They had a clear game plan and we did not execute ours well enough. ... We never really had control of the game. They just played better, man, period.&rdquo;
This was supposed to be a rebuilding summer for Spain. Pau and Marc Gasol, the longtime leaders of the program, retired from international following a quarterfinal loss to the U.S. at the Tokyo Games. Sergio Gonzalez also decided last summer was the right time to walk away, after 16 years with the national team. Sergio Llull and Ricky Rubio, two more of veterans, couldn&rsquo;t play because of injuries.
The winning tradition simply continued anyway. Spain is now the reigning Basketball World Cup (won in China in 2019) along with EuroBasket champion. It has also medaled in 10 of its last 11 EuroBasket appearances.
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For France, it was another medal &mdash; and another instance of coming up a bit short of the shiniest medal. France&rsquo;s last major crown came in winning EuroBasket in 2013. Since then, the French have won two bronzes at the World Cup (2014, 2019), a bronze at EuroBasket (2015), silver at the Tokyo Olympics, and now, silver again.
The difference was clear: Spain held a massive 35-7 edge in points off turnovers.
&ldquo;Today, obviously, we have lost the gold,&rdquo; France coach Vincent Collet said. &ldquo;They executed their plan perfect.&rdquo;
Juancho Hernangomez was 6-for-6 from 3-point range in a 6-minute span of the second quarter, helping Spain extend what was a 23-14 lead into a 45-26 edge with just about 3 minutes left in the half.
barrage. He had made a total of 12 3&prime;s in his eight previous games in this year&rsquo;s EuroBasket tournament, and his high in any NBA game is six.
An 11-0 run helped France cut what had been a 21-point deficit to just 47-37 at the half &mdash; and the momentum carried into the third quarter.
Yabusele&rsquo;s jumper with 6:52 left in the third got France within 49-46, and everything seemed to be shifting.
But Spain held on. Juancho Hernangomez&rsquo;s seventh 3-pointer with 7:29 left made it a 71-61 game, and the outcome wasn&rsquo;t in doubt again.
BRONZE MEDAL
GERMANY 82, POLAND 69
In the bronze-medal matchup earlier Sunday, Dennis Schroder scored 26 points and host Germany held off Poland.
It was Germany&rsquo;s first EuroBasket medal since winning silver in 2005. Poland matched its best finish in the event since 1971.
&ldquo;They told me it&rsquo;s 17 years since Germany won a medal,&rdquo; Germany coach Gordie Herbert said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of fitting that Dennis Schroder&rsquo;s number is 17. It&rsquo;s been an unbelievable honor to coach these guys from Day 1.&rdquo;
Johannes Voigtmann scored 14 for Germany.
&ldquo;We worked hard for it,&rdquo; Schroder said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an unbelievable feeling to come out third in the EuroBasket.&rdquo;
Michal Sokolowski led Poland with 18 points, with Jakub Garbacz scoring 12 and A.J. Slaughter finishing with 10 points and 10 assists.

Juancho Hernangomez scored 27 points to lead Spain to the gold medal.

Spain wins EuroBasket title, topping France 88-76 for gold

France sent a message on its way to grabbing a spot in the EuroBasket championship game and a showdown with Spain.
Guerschon Yabusele scored 22 points, and France rolled past Poland 95-54 in the semifinals of the European championships on Friday.
&ldquo;We just played our basketball,&rdquo; Yabusele said. &ldquo;We were really good on defense and we were really aggressive. We made everything hard for them.&rdquo;
The 41-point margin was the largest ever in a EuroBasket medal-round game played under the current tournament format, one more than 40-point wins posted by Croatia over Greece in the 1993 bronze-medal game and by the Soviet Union over Poland in the 1967 semifinals.
Elle Okobo and Evan Fournier each had 10 points in a rare easy one for France, which had outscored opponents by a total of 11 points in its first seven games of the tournament &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-france-poland-italy-71f01c5c88ed542aa26ad87ce9151f9b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plus won each of its last two contests in overtime,</a>&nbsp;benefitting in both from missed free throws in the final moments by Turkey and Italy.
"We started the game with will and determination,&rdquo; France coach Vincent Collet said. &ldquo;That is what made the difference.&rdquo;
Next up for France: Spain, which defeated host Germany 96-91 in Friday&rsquo;s other semifinal. The gold- and bronze-medal games are Sunday.
It&rsquo;ll mark the fifth time in the last six EuroBaskets that either Spain or France has won gold; the exception was 2017, when Slovenia prevailed. It&rsquo;ll also be a rematch of the 2011 EuroBasket final, where Spain topped France.
&ldquo;We worked really hard to put ourselves in this position,&rdquo; said France center Rudy Gobert, who had six rebounds and three blocks. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;ve got one more game to go. When we started preparations, the goal was to win the gold medal and now we&rsquo;re in position to make it happen. So, one more game.&rdquo;
Playing for gold represents the latest big chance for France, which captured its last major crown by winning EuroBasket in 2013. Since then, the French have won two bronzes at the World Cup (2014, 2019), a bronze at EuroBasket (2015) and silver at the delayed Tokyo Olympics that were contested in the summer of 2021.
Every stat Friday showed France&rsquo;s dominance. It shot 62%, compared with 32% for Poland. France held a 40-21 edge in rebounding, a 22-9 edge in points off turnovers and a 40-16 advantage from points in the paint.
&ldquo;Like a lot of games in this tournament, it could go south, it could go north,&rdquo; Poland coach Igor Milicic said. &ldquo;This game went south.&rdquo;
A.J. Slaughter and Michal Michalak led Poland &mdash; which made the semifinals by upsetting defending champion Slovenia 90-87 on Wednesday &mdash; with nine points apiece. It was Poland&rsquo;s third loss of the tournament, all coming in blowouts. The others were a 30-point defeat to Finland and a 29-point loss to Serbia in the group stage.
&ldquo;We tip our hats off to France,&rdquo; said Slaughter, a Kentucky-born guard who helped Western Kentucky to upset wins as a No. 12 seed in both the 2008 and 2009 NCAA tournaments. &ldquo;They played a really good game tonight. ... But we still have our heads high. We still have a medal game on Sunday. We&rsquo;ll come back, play with pride and see if we can leave here with a medal.&rdquo;
SPAIN 96, GERMANY 91
Lorenzo Brown scored 29 points, and Spain used a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter to rally past host Germany in the second semifinal.
Germany led by 10 points late in the third quarter, before Spain took over. Juancho Hernangomez scored seven of his 13 points in the game-deciding run, one where Spain turned a 77-70 deficit into an 83-77 lead with 4:04 remaining.
&ldquo;I cannot find the words to congratulate my players,&rdquo; Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said. &ldquo;Probably this medal is the least expected, but to me, the most satisfactory. Built upon hard work, togetherness, team basketball, defensive effort, desire to overcome our limits ... and guts in the fourth quarter.&rdquo;
It was Spain&rsquo;s fifth consecutive win at the tournament, the last four of them coming by 10 points or less.
&ldquo;When you bring intensity to the game, anything can happen,&rdquo; said Usman Garuba, who had a team-high seven assists for Spain.
And it was Brown&rsquo;s highest-scoring game of the tournament, plus more than doubled his per-game average entering Friday; he was averaging 13.4 points in Spain&rsquo;s first seven games.
Dennis Schroder led all scorers with 30 points for Germany, but managed only two points in the fourth quarter. Franz Wagner and Andreas Obst each scored 15 for Germany, while Daniel Theis added 10.
&ldquo;The energy was amazing out there,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that crowd came to play tonight. Felt amazing from the jump. I felt like our guys felt amazing from the jump as well. Schroder came out, playing unbelievable, finished the game unbelievable as well. But it just took a lot of guts from our end.&rdquo;
Germany coach Gordie Herbert said losing momentum early in the fourth quarter was key.
&ldquo;We had a tough five, six minutes,&rdquo; Herbert said.
EuroBasket ends Sunday, and from there, Schroder is headed to Los Angeles. The agency that represents him, Priority Sports, said Friday that Schroder &mdash; who has averaged 21.6 points and 7.3 assists per game at EuroBasket &mdash; agreed on a $2.6 million contract with the Lakers for the coming season.

France sent a message on its way to grabbing a spot in the EuroBasket championship game and a showdown with Spain.

France tops Poland, Spain beats Germany in EuroBasket semis

BERLIN (AP) &mdash; Giannis Antetokounmpo got ejected, and Greece&rsquo;s hopes of bringing home a European championship ended not long afterward.
Germany, meanwhile, is taking full advantage of its home-court edge.
Dennis Schroder scored 26 points, Daniel Theis had a 13-point, 16-rebound effort and host Germany moved into the EuroBasket semifinals with a 107-96 win over Greece on Tuesday.
Antetokounmpo had a monster game for Greece &mdash; 31 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in 30 minutes. But he also picked up two unsportsmanlike conduct fouls, the last of those leading to his ejection with 4:56 left.
Greece was down by 14 when he committed his second such foul, and Germany maintained full control the rest of the way.
Germany now has a chance at what would be just its second medal in its last 13 appearances at EuroBasket. The Germans won the European title in 1993 and were second in 2005; assured of no worse than fourth now, this tournament will mark their best EuroBasket finish since that silver-medal showing.
&ldquo;I think this is unbelievable for German basketball, the way this team, the way these players have performed on their home soil up to now,&rdquo; Germany coach Gordie Herbert said. &ldquo;I think the way they&rsquo;ve played, the way we&rsquo;ve played, people can relate to. They see an identity.&rdquo;
Greece and Serbia were the only two teams that made it through the group stage of EuroBasket with unbeaten records, both 5-0 and led by a pair of two-time NBA MVPs &mdash; Antetokounmpo for Greece, Nikola Jokic for Serbia.
Then came the knockout stage, and the records no longer mattered. Serbia and Jokic were ousted in the round of 16 by Italy; Antetokounmpo and Greece are now gone as well.
&ldquo;We really enjoyed the ride,&rdquo; Greece coach Dimitrios Itoudis said. &ldquo;We really enjoyed the journey. I think that we made a lot of people proud with the way that this team performs. We wanted to go more, but it didn&rsquo;t happen this time.&rdquo;
Giannoulis Larentzakis scored 18 points on only five shot attempts for Greece; he was 5 for 5 from the field, four of those from 3-point range, and was 4 for 6 from the foul line. Tyler Dorsey added 13 for Greece.
Franz Wagner and Andreas Obst had 19 points apiece for Germany, which plays Spain in Friday&rsquo;s semifinals.
&ldquo;It was a really physical game,&rdquo; Wagner said. &ldquo;A lot of points. We found our rhythm really early and I think we did a way better job collectively guarding them in the second half.&rdquo;
SPAIN 100, FINLAND 90
Most of the names on Spain&rsquo;s national team have changed in the last year, with the roster that headed to EuroBasket significantly different from the one that played in the Tokyo Olympics.
The expectations, however, remain the same.
Willy Hernangomez scored 27 points, Juancho Hernangomez added 15 and Spain &mdash; with just three players who got any significant playing time at the Tokyo Games last summer &mdash; powered into the semifinals by erasing a 15-point deficit and topping Finland in Tuesday&rsquo;s first quarterfinal.
Down 50-35 late in the final half, Spain outscored Finland 65-40 over the game&rsquo;s final 21 minutes.
&ldquo;We showed, one more time, cohesiveness, toughness, generosity, we shared the ball well,&rdquo; Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said. &ldquo;At the end of the day, this is what you can ask to a team which is so inexperienced and so new in this kind of engagement.&rdquo;
Spain reached the EuroBasket semifinals for the 11th consecutive time and will play Germany on Friday for a spot in the final.
Dario Brizuela scored 14 points, Rudy Fernandez added 11 and Lorenzo Brown had 10 for Spain.
&ldquo;It was a hard battle,&rdquo; said Willy Hernangomez, Juancho&rsquo;s older brother. &ldquo;Tough battle for us. ... Our first half was really bad. We started the game not with the right mentality. And then at halftime, (we said) we&rsquo;ve got to be us, we&rsquo;ve got to be us.&rdquo;
Spain opened the third quarter on a 17-5 run, more than setting the tone for its comeback.
Lauri Markkanen scored 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Finland, while Mikael Jantunen scored 13, Alexander Madsen had 13 and Sasu Salin added 11.
Finland was seeking its first trip to the EuroBasket semifinals.
&ldquo;Well, you see why Spain is always so tough,&rdquo; Finland&rsquo;s Shawn Huff said. &ldquo;They never give up. We gave it a good shot.&rdquo;
WEDNESDAY&rsquo;S SCHEDULE
The other two quarterfinal games are on tap: France plays Italy, and defending champion Slovenia takes on Poland.

Dennis Schroder scored 26 points, Daniel Theis had a 13-point, 16-rebound effort and host Germany moved into the semis.

Germany ousts Giannis, Spain rallies to EuroBasket semis

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) &mdash; Luka Doncic was asked Tuesday about whether he or Greece&rsquo;s Giannis Antetokounmpo had the better chance of setting a EuroBasket scoring record.
Doncic quickly picked Antetokounmpo.
A day later, he might have proved himself wrong.
Doncic scored 47 points &mdash; the second-most by anyone in the history of the European championships &mdash; and led Slovenia past France 88-82 on Wednesday for the top seed out of Group B going into this weekend&rsquo;s start of the knockout round.
&ldquo;Luka, obviously, is a fantastic player,&rdquo; said France center Rudy Gobert, one of the world&rsquo;s top defenders.
Doncic had 27 of Slovenia&rsquo;s first 36 points, made 15 of 23 shots from the field, plus had team highs of seven rebounds and five assists.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
LEGENDARY. Luka Doncic is simply out of this world! 🛸 Most points in a EuroBasket game in the last 65 years, and we are all witnesses. 📊 47 PTS | 7 REB | 5 AST | 4 STL<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EuroBasket?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EuroBasket</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BringTheNoise?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BringTheNoise</a> <a href="https://t.co/4FcDw7S3y6">pic.twitter.com/4FcDw7S3y6</a>
&mdash; #EuroBasket 2022 (@EuroBasket) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroBasket/status/1567574177766309889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Eddy Terrace had 63 points for Belgium against Albania in 1957. That&rsquo;s the only EuroBasket performance in which someone had more points than Doncic did on Wednesday; the previous second-best effort was 46 by Greece&rsquo;s Nikos Galis against Sweden in 1983.
The most in this year&rsquo;s EuroBasket, entering Wednesday, was Antetokounmpo scoring 41 on Ukraine.
Goran Dragic broke a tie with a layup with 1:20 left that put Slovenia (4-1) ahead for good. It was a measure of payback for Slovenia, which lost to France in the Olympic semifinals at the Tokyo Games last summer.
&ldquo;Luka had a great night,&rdquo; Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekulic said. &ldquo;He spoils us so much. We think this is normal. This is not normal.&rdquo;
Dragic had 14 for Slovenia. Gobert had 19 for France (3-2), which got 15 from Evan Fournier, 13 from Amath M&rsquo;Baye, 11 from Elie Okobo and a 10-point, 10-rebound effort from Thomas Heurtel.
Wednesday started the final round of group play. There are four groups with six teams in each, and the top four clubs in each group &mdash; 16 teams in all &mdash; move on to Berlin for the knockout phase that starts Saturday.
GROUP B
LITHUANIA 87, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 70
Lithuania is going to the knockout stage of EuroBasket.
Marius Grigonis scored 16 points, Jonas Valanciunas finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds, and Lithuania topped Bosnia and Herzegovina &mdash; a winner-take-all game in terms of which club would move out of Group B and into the round of 16.
Arnas Butkevicius and Ignas Brazdeikis each scored 13 points, and Domantas Sabonis added 12 for Lithuania, which survived a second consecutive must-win game.
Dzanan Musa led all scorers with 22 points for Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-3), while Jusuf Nurkic added 15.
A 30-10 run spanning the second and third quarters was the key for Lithuania (2-3). The game was tied at 32 before the spurt gave Lithuania a 62-42 lead early in the third quarter.
GROUP A
SPAIN 72, TURKEY 69
At Tbilisi, Georgia, Lorenzo Brown&rsquo;s jumper with 2:11 left put Spain (4-1) ahead to stay in its group-clinching win over Turkey (3-2).
Willy Hernangomez led Spain with 15 points, and Brown finished with 11. Spain will meet Lithuania in the round of 16 this weekend.
Cedi Osman scored 20 for Turkey, while Furkan Korkmaz finished with 16 and Alperen Sengun added 14. Turkey will play in the knockout round as well.
BELGIUM 89, BULGARIA 80
Belgium (3-2) ensured it would reach the group stage, with Retin Obasohan scoring 25 points and Manu Lecomte adding 20.
Maxime De Zeeuw scored 13 for Belgium.
Aleksandar Vezenkov had 26 points and 13 rebounds and Dee Bost scored 18 for Bulgaria (1-4), which was eliminated.
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THURSDAY&rsquo;S SCHEDULE
First-round play ends in Groups C and D, as the 60-game group stage comes to an end.
Group C: Croatia (2-2) vs. Ukraine (3-1), Estonia (1-3) vs. Greece (4-0), Britain (0-4) vs. Italy (2-2). Croatia, Ukraine, Greece and Italy are all advancing to Berlin and the knockout stage. Greece could be one of two teams &mdash; Serbia is the other &mdash; to have a chance to get through group play unbeaten.
Group D: Israel (2-2) vs. Czech Republic (1-3), Serbia (4-0) vs. Poland (3-1), Finland (2-2) vs. Netherlands (0-4). The Israel-Czech Republic winner goes to Berlin, the Serbia-Poland winner will win the group (both already have clinched knockout round spots) and Finland is also locked into the knockout round.
There are no games Friday.

Doncic scored 47 points — the second-most by anyone in the history of the European championships — and led Slovenia past France.

Luka Doncic goes wild, scores 47 to lead Slovenia past France

MILAN (AP) &mdash; The stars showed up at EuroBasket on Tuesday in a big way.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 41 points in 27 minutes for Greece, Luka Doncic had 36 points for Slovenia and two-time reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic scored 29 points for Serbia &mdash; three of the world&rsquo;s best players all leading their teams to big group-stage wins at the European championships.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Ain&rsquo;t nothing but a little Luka Magic 🪄 36 PTS 10 REB 4 AST<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EuroBasket?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EuroBasket</a><a href="https://t.co/hIo3xZOABm">pic.twitter.com/hIo3xZOABm</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1567255650132004865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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There&rsquo;s one more group-stage game left for each to play, and then a trip to Berlin awaits since Greece, Slovenia and Serbia have all clinched spots in the 16-team knockout round that begins Saturday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Nikola Jokic had himself a night at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EuroBasket?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EuroBasket</a>. 🃏👀 29 PTS, 11 REB, 5 AST<a href="https://t.co/yqgLLMI2AS">pic.twitter.com/yqgLLMI2AS</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1567261660729032706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s point total was the most in a EuroBasket game since Dirk Nowitzki had 43 for Germany in 2001. And when he heard that stat, all Antetokounmpo did was nod.
&ldquo;I try not to rate my performance,&rdquo; Antetokounmpo said. &ldquo;I just try to go out there and have fun as much as possible, try to focus as much as I can on what I can control, try to bring energy any way possible. ... But I&rsquo;ll say this: I think this is one of the years where I feel very, very excited to go out there on the court and play with my teammates.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Giannis went OFF today in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EuroBasket?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EuroBasket</a>. 41 PTS 9 REB 72% FGM On fire. 🔥<a href="https://t.co/XRF620yKBK">pic.twitter.com/XRF620yKBK</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1567208097826963458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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As Antetokounmpo did, Doncic also deflected credit after the game. Told that Germany&rsquo;s postgame reaction was &ldquo;Luka Doncic happened,&rdquo; Doncic replied by saying &ldquo;Slovenia happened.&rdquo;
&ldquo;The whole team was ready,&rdquo; Doncic said. &ldquo;Everybody who stepped on the court was fighting, whether they played one minute or 30. I&rsquo;m really proud of this team.&rdquo;
Doncic was asked after the game if he or Antetokounmpo was in a better position to break the EuroBasket single-game scoring record.
Doncic didn&rsquo;t hesitate with his answer: He picked Antetokounmpo.
&ldquo;I would bet on Giannis,&rdquo; Doncic said. &ldquo;Why? Because he&rsquo;s Giannis Antetokounmpo.&rdquo;
GROUP C
GREECE 99, UKRAINE 79
At Milan, Antetokounmpo simply overpowered Ukraine and ensured that Greece would finish atop its group.
Antetokounmpo &mdash; who got Monday off to rest &mdash; had his 41 points and nine rebounds in just 27 minutes to lead Greece (4-0).
He was 13 for 18 from the floor, 15 for 18 from the foul line.
&ldquo;It was very easy to prepare the team because it is absolutely clear what Greece does when Giannis is out there,&rdquo; Ukraine coach Ainars Bagatskis said. &ldquo;They play really aggressive basketball. And if you don&rsquo;t put against them the same aggressiveness, even higher aggressiveness, then you have big problems.&rdquo;
Nick Calathes and Tyler Dorsey had 13 apiece for Greece.
Issuf Sanon and Svi Mykhailiuk each scored 16 for Ukraine (3-1), while Alex Len and Illya Sydorov added 10 apiece. Ukraine led by seven at the half, before Greece won the third quarter 32-11.
ESTONIA 94, GREAT BRITAIN 62
Henri Drell scored 20 points, Siim-Sander Vene added 18 and Estonia had no trouble on the way to its first win of the tournament.
Maik-Kalev Kotsar scored 15, Kristjan Kitsing added 14 and Janari Joesaar finished with 11 for Estonia (1-3).
Myles Hesson scored 14 for Great Britain (0-4), with Carl Wheatie and Patrick Whelan each scoring 12.
ITALY 81, CROATIA 76
Simone Fontecchio and Nicolo Melli each scored 19 points to lead Italy (2-2).
Bojan Bogdanovic led Croatia (2-2) with 27 points, while Ivica Zubac scored 13 and Dario Saric added 10.
Both teams are headed to the knockout round.
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GROUP B
SLOVENIA 88, GERMANY 80
At Cologne, Germany, Doncic&rsquo;s 36 points came with him making 14 of 25 shots. He also had 10 rebounds for Slovenia (3-1).
Goran Dragic scored 18 points and Mike Tobey added 10 for Slovenia.
&ldquo;We showed what we are made of,&rdquo; Dragic said.
Dennis Schroder scored 19 points, Andreas Obst had 14 and Maodo Lo added 13 for Germany (3-1).
LITHUANIA 87, HUNGARY 64
Lithuanian basketball is known for a lot of things, including passionate fans.
They go everywhere to cheer for their national team. And Tuesday, they even cheered for France &mdash; for good reason.
Lithuania topped Hungary and that, combined with France&rsquo;s win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, means the last qualifying spot out of Group B is still unclaimed. It&rsquo;ll be decided Wednesday when Lithuania plays Bosnia and Herzegovina, the winner moving on to Berlin and a round-of-16 game, the loser heading home eliminated.
&ldquo;Lithuanian fans are the best,&rdquo; France guard Evan Fournier said.
If France had lost Tuesday, Lithuania would have been eliminated. Instead, those Lithuanian fans serenaded the French with cries of &ldquo;Merci!&rdquo; for keeping their national team&rsquo;s hopes alive.
&ldquo;It feels amazing,&rdquo; Lithuania forward Domatas Sabonis said. &ldquo;They travel to every championship to support us. It&rsquo;s sad we couldn&rsquo;t give them a win over the weekend, but we&rsquo;re glad we could give them one today and the goal is to give them another one tomorrow.&rdquo;
Jonas Valanciunas scored 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting and Sabonis added 19 for Lithuania (1-3).
Marius Grigonis had 15 points and Rokas Jokubaitis added 10 for Lithuania. Zoltan Perl scored 16 for Hungary (0-4), while David Vojvoda and Rosco Allen each finished with 10.
FRANCE 81, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 68
Thomas Heurtel&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 5:49 left put France ahead to stay and started a game-ending 22-7 run for the winners, who were already assured of a spot in the round of 16.
Guerschon Yabusele scored 15 for France (3-1), while Heurtel and Fournier each had 14 and Rudy Gobert posted an 11-point, 12-rebound performance.
Jusuf Nurkic, Miralem Halilovic and Dzanan Musa all had 14 for Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-2), while John Roberson had 13 and Edin Atic finished with 10.
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GROUP A
TURKEY 78, BELGIUM 63
At Tbilisi, Georgia, Alperen Sengun scored 24 points, Furkan Korkmaz had 16 and Turkey (3-1) remained tied atop Group A.
Ercan Osmani added 12 for Turkey.
Haris Bratanovic scored 15 for Belgium (2-2) and Hans Vanwijn scored 11.
SPAIN 82, MONTENEGRO 65
Spain (3-1) clinched its berth in the round of 16, with Dario Brizuela leading the way with 18 points.
Willy Hernangomez scored 14 for Spain, while Jaime Pradilla and Lorenzo Brown added 12 apiece.
Vladimir Mihailovic scored 18 for Montenegro (2-2), which got 11 from Marko Simonovic and 10 from Kendrick Perry.
BULGARIA 92, GEORGIA 80
Dee Bost had 33 points and 12 assists, Aleksandar Vezenkov finished with 28 points and 14 rebounds, and Bulgaria kept its hopes alive.
Pavlin Ivanov scored 17 for Bulgaria (1-3).
Goga Bitadze scored 21 for Georgia (1-3), while Thaddus McFadden had 19, Alexander Mamukelashvili scored 13, and Giorgi Shermadini and Duda Sanadze scored 10 apiece.
GROUP D
SERBIA 89, ISRAEL 78
At Prague, Jokic was 11 of 13 from the floor and also grabbed 11 rebounds for Serbia (4-0), while Vasilije Micic added 19.
Nikola Kalinic and Ognjen Jaramaz each scored 10 for Serbia.
Yam Madar scored 20 for Israel (2-2), while Deni Avdija had 14 and Roman Sorkin added 11.
POLAND 75, NETHERLANDS 69
Poland was down by 13 in the third quarter before closing the game on a 39-20 run to tune up for its knockout-stage appearance.
Michal Sokolowski scored 24 for Poland (3-1), which got 16 from Aleksander Balcerowski and 10 from Jakub Garbacz.
Charlon Kloof led the Netherlands (0-4) with 26, and Yannick Franke scored 13.
FINLAND 98, CZECH REPUBLIC 88
Lauri Markkanen continued his strong tournament with 34 points and 10 rebounds, and Finland clinched its berth in the round of 16.
Sasu Salin scored 23 and Petteri Koponen added 14 for Finland, with Elias Valtonen finishing with 11.
Vojtech Hruban scored 22 for the Czech Republic, with Jan Vesely adding 15 and Patrik Auda and Jaromir Bohacik scoring 13 apiece. The Czechs play Israel on Thursday and, according to FIBA, could reach the knockout stage with a win.
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WEDNESDAY&rsquo;S SCHEDULE
First-round play in Groups A and B concludes, with Groups C and D getting the day off before they finish their round-robins on Thursday. Friday is an off day and the knockout round in Berlin starts Saturday.
Group A: Turkey (3-1) vs. Spain (3-1), Bulgaria (1-3) vs. Belgium (2-2), Georgia (1-3) vs. Montenegro (2-2). The Turkey-Spain winner will win the group. Bulgaria and Georgia are in must-win scenarios.
Group B: Lithuania (1-3) vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-2), France (3-1) vs. Slovenia (3-1), Hungary (0-4) vs. Germany (3-1). France, Slovenia (which wins the group with a victory) and Germany have already qualified, Hungary is eliminated and the Lithuania-Bosnia game is the one that matters most.

Antetokounmpo scored 41 points in 27 minutes for Greece, Doncic had 36 points for Slovenia and reigning MVP Nikola Jokic scored 29 points for Serbia.

Stars shine bright: Giannis, Luka, Jokic lead at EuroBasket

FIBA EuroBasket is making a triumphant comeback this week after five years away from competition. Per ESPN, that's the <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34457762/eurobasket-2022-scores-schedules-teams-news-updates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longest gap in the tournament since World War II</a>, so EuroBasket 2022 should turn out to be a remarkable celebration of basketball's growth across Europe.
A&nbsp;lot has changed in five years. Luka Doncic was the "chosen one" of European hoops in 2017 as an 18-year-old suiting up for Slovenia, Giannis Antetokounmpo had just won Most Improved Player with the Milwaukee Bucks and earned his first NBA All-Star appearance, and Nikola Jokic had yet to clear 30 minutes per game in an NBA season.
Today, the three international stars are among the faces of basketball in the NBA and around the world, and the trio will compete in EuroBasket 2022. That's just the tip of the iceberg as far as the immese talent slated to participate. We've already gotten a peek of what the action could look like via the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers that have taken place over the past week.
EuroBasket features 24 teams in four groups, with action beginning on Thursday and culminating in a gold-medal showdown on Sept. 18. Here's a rundown of the must-see NBA players (as of last season), international stars and top prospects (under age 23) in each group.
(Note: If a player is listed as "questionable," it is because their playing status is uncertain. Not all EuroBasket rosters have been finalized, so several countries' teams may look slightly different. <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/eurobasket/2022/news/roster-tracker-fiba-eurobasket-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Here is a full roster tracker</a>.)
GROUP A: SPAIN, TURKEY, MONTENEGRO, GEORGIA, BELGIUM, BULGARIA
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Alperen Sengun against Serbia: 17 PTS | 13 REB | 2 AST | 2 BLK | 61 TS% Spearheaded the Turkey comeback in the third quarter 🔥<a href="https://t.co/faBFt2SQLe">pic.twitter.com/faBFt2SQLe</a>
&mdash; Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) <a href="https://twitter.com/JTGatlin/status/1563966082322468869?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Top NBA Players: Juan Hernangomez (Spain), Willy Hernangomez (Spain), Furkan Korkmaz (Turkey), Cedi Osman (Turkey), Goga Bitadze (Georgia), Sandro Mamukelashvili (Georgia)
Top International Players: Rudy Fernandez (Spain), Lorenzo Brown (Spain), Shane Larkin (Turkey), Bojan Dubljevic (Montenegro), Retin Obasohan (Belgium), Sasha Vezenkov (Bulgaria)
Notable Prospects: Usman Garuba (Spain), Vrenz Bleijenbergh (Belgium), Alperen Sengun (Turkey), Marko Simonovic (Montenegro)
Spain and Turkey might not have quite the Tier 1 star power of some other countries, but both squads are fun and deep. Fernandez and Brown are stalwarts who have starred on their respective European teams for years. Then for Turkey, Osman and Korkmaz are NBA rotation players boosted by an electric point guard in Larkin.
We'll hopefully get to see the pair of Houston Rockets sophomore talents as well. Sengun impressed with his flashes last season and has already created highlights with Turkey over the summer. Garuba was quieter as a rookie, but has experience on a large Spanish stage with his time playing for Real Madrid.&nbsp;
GROUP B: BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, FRANCE, GERMANY, HUNGARY, LITHUANIA, SLOVENIA
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Luka Doncic drops 25 PTS, 11 REB, 8 AST in win over Estonian National team 🔥😭<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MFFL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MFFL</a> <a href="https://t.co/4khnb7BEr3">pic.twitter.com/4khnb7BEr3</a>
&mdash; MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) <a href="https://twitter.com/NationMffl/status/1562897679155204098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Top NBA Players: Jusuf Nurkic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Evan Fournier (France), Rudy Gobert (France), Timoth&eacute; Luwawu-Cabarrot (France), Daniel Theis (Germany), Dennis Schr&ouml;der (Germany), Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania), Jonas Valanciunas (Lithuania), Ignas Brazdeikis (Lithuania), Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Goran Dragic (Slovenia), Vlatko Cancar (Slovenia)
Top International Players:&nbsp;Dzanan Musa (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Elie Okobo (France), Guerschon Yabusele (France), Thomas Huertel (France), Vincent Poirier (France)
Notable Prospects:&nbsp;Th&eacute;o Maledon (France), Franz Wagner (Germany), Rokas Jokubaitis (Lithuania), Ziga Samar (Slovenia)
Yeah, this group is absolutely loaded. Five of the six rosters could potentially boast multiple players with 2021-22 NBA experience. Slovenia, led by Doncic and Dragic, is considered a favorite to win EuroBasket. But France has a loaded roster (though no Victor Wembanyama), too. They'll be worth checking out additonally because Okobo has been balling in Europe since leaving the NBA.
New York Knicks fans might want to circle Lithuania as the team to watch. They'll receive a nostalgia injection in the forms of Brazdeikis and Mindaugas Kuzminskas, and they'll get a glimpse of the future with Jokubaitis, the team's 2021 draft-and-stash guard. Franz Wagner is one of the best young talents in EuroBasket too, making Germany a team to monitor.
GROUP C: CROATIA, ESTONIA, GREAT BRITAIN, GREECE, ITALY, UKRAINE
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Giannis Antetokounmpo <a href="https://twitter.com/Giannis_An34?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Giannis_An34</a> dropped 26pts 7rebs in the <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBAWC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@fibawc</a> Qualifiers win for Greece. Watch all the games of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAWC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAWC</a> Qualifiers on Courtside 1891 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinForAll?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WinForAll</a> <a href="https://t.co/t7JNIYvGgG">pic.twitter.com/t7JNIYvGgG</a>
&mdash; Swish Cultures (@swishcultures_) <a href="https://twitter.com/swishcultures_/status/1564222344067010561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Top NBA Players:&nbsp;Bojan Bogdanovic (Croatia), Dario Saric (Croatia), Ivica Zubac (Croatia),&nbsp;Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Thanasis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Tyler Dorsey (Greece), Simone Fontecchio (Italy), Alex Len (Ukraine), Svi Mykhailiuk (Ukraine)
Top International Players: Mario Hezonja (Croatia), Sacha Killeya-Jones (Great Britain, questionable),&nbsp;Nick Calathes (Greece), Georgios Papagiannis (Greece, questionable), Kostas Papanikalou (Greece), Kostas Sloukas (Greece, questionable), Nicolo Melli (Italy)
Notable Prospects:&nbsp;Karlo Matkovic (Croatia), Roko Prkacin (Croatia),&nbsp;Issuf Sanon (Ukraine), Nico Mannion (Italy)
Three of the Antetokounbros (the above two, plus Kostas, who is questionable at this time) could assemble for their home country. Greece also has a handful of international stars who might play; their roster has yet to be finalized. Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped 40 points in a World Cup Qualifiers loss against Nikola Jokic and Serbia, so it's safe to say he's firing on all cylinders.
Croatia, however, might be my pick for most intriguing team in the tournament. They have a trio of NBA players, plus a former top-five pick in Mario Hezonja. Prkacin has been on NBA Draft radars for several years now, and Matkovic just went No. 52 overall in the 2022 Draft to the New Orleans Pelicans. This is a fun mix of talent at different stages and platforms.
GROUP D: CZECH REPUBLIC, FINLAND, ISRAEL, NETHERLANDS, POLAND, SERBIA
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
They call him the MVP for a reason 🃏 Deadly in so many ways, Nikola Jokic was in top form for Serbia during World Cup Qualifying 😤<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAWC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAWC</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WinForSrbija?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WinForSrbija</a> 🇷🇸 <a href="https://t.co/1ZqvDPLQsi">pic.twitter.com/1ZqvDPLQsi</a>
&mdash; FIBA (@FIBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBA/status/1564286832510226436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Top NBA Players:&nbsp;Vit Krejci (Czech Republic), Tomas Satoransky (Czech Republic, questionable), Lauri Markkanen (Finland), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Nemanja Bjelica (Serbia, questionable),&nbsp;
Top International Players: Jan Vesely (Czech Republic), Vasilije Micic (Serbia, questionable), Nikola Milutinov (Serbia)
Notable Prospects: Deni Avdija (Israel), Yam Madar (Israel), Balsa Koprivica (Serbia, questionable)
Nikola Jokic instantly makes Serbia a frontrunner for the gold, but the nation could have several veterans backing him up in a potential deep run. Micic in particular should be on NBA fans' radars as a player who could immediately come over and produce in the league. The 28-year-old guard won two EuroLeague titles and was named MVP in 2021. Oklahoma City currently owns his draft rights, though he was mentioned frequently in offseason trade rumors.&nbsp;
Israel has a pair of notable young talents leading the way. Deni Avdija took a legitimate step forward in his second year with the Washington Wizards. Madar, meanwhile, has been playing overseas as a draft-and-stash prospect selected by the Boston Celtics in 2020.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic lead a stellar group of competitors in EuroBasket 2022.

FIBA EuroBasket 2022: Top teams, players and prospects to watch

Yeah, the Minnesota Timberwolves' repeated shipwreckings in the first round might be tough to swallow for the next month. However, the blown leads and Karl-Anthony Towns trash talk undermine what was, in my estimation, one of the most promising seasons in recent franchise history.
Minnesota has made the playoffs twice since 2004. The only other time was a whimper of a first-round exit in 2018 that foreshadowed the collapse of a Jimmy Butler-led, Tom Thibodeau-coached roster. This season, Minnesota constructed a top-10 defense with the league's seventh-youngest roster, per RealGM, and went 30-17 in the 2022 calendar year.
Make no mistake: This franchise is on a positive trajectory, and is finally turning potential into production. Now, Minnesota has to make one of the most difficult leaps in basketball &mdash; going from a winning team to a true contender &mdash; at a time where the NBA wields some of the widest parity in recent memory.
The 2022 offseason can be a pivotal building block towards that leap. First, the franchise needs to secure its chief decision-maker.
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Sachin Gupta assumed interim duties as president of basketball operations following Gersson Rosas' departure last fall. The Wolves made all of five in-season acquisitions under his tenure (three of which were 10-day signings), and executed zero trades. It was a quiet season on paper for the creator of ESPN's Trade Machine.&nbsp;
According to the <a href="https://www.startribune.com/timberwolves-sachin-gupta-chris-finch/600169496/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Minneapolis Star Tribune</a>, Gupta seems prepared to navigate the Timberwolves through the summer, though the franchise has not made any move towards announcing a permanent head of operations yet. Wolves head coach Chris Finch has voiced his support for Gupta.
"They know my feelings about Sach," Finch said. "They know that I think he's outstanding and he's been a huge reason that we have stability in this organization right now. He's very smart. We have complete alignment. The players love him. He's appropriate in his presence around the team. He's not heavy-handed with the coaching staff. He does his job.
"I'm a huge fan, and I've advocated for him to have his opportunity to be the guy to run this team. Nothing would make me happier than that."
So time will tell if the new ownership group, currently including Glen Taylor, Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, feel the same.
Minnesota has most of its current roster contractually intact. The team holds $1.9 million team options on 2019 second round pick Jaylen Nowell and undrafted Naz Reid, who have both emerged as quality rotation-caliber players. Perhaps the biggest free agent name is Taurean Prince (UFA), who solidified a solid floor-spacing role off the bench in the regular season, but struggled in the playoffs.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, defensive-minded wing Josh Okogie enters restricted free agency after playing just 10.5 minutes per game this season. The former 2018 first-round pick has seen his playing time decrease in each of the last three years. Nathan Knight and McKinley Wright IV also enter restricted free agency, while Jake Layman and Greg Monroe hit the unrestricted open market.
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The Wolves likely won't have the salary cap room for flashy free agent acquisitions. According to Spotrac, Minnesota is all-but guaranteed to be over the cap before free agency even opens. Their best spending asset will be a $10.2 million non-taxpayer exception. Interestingly, Gupta has already commented on a potential team need.
"Defensive rebounding was obviously a big issue in this series and all year long," Gupta said. "That might be a more personnel thing and more size can certainly help. There's a mix for sure in terms of how we can address some of those areas and weaknesses just with development and internal growth and others that we may have to address with the roster."
Minnesota should have plenty of chances to fill this need with its exception. Purely spitballing, but some rebounding bigs who might fit in the $10.2 million exception include: Derrick Favors, Ivica Zubac, Thomas Bryant and Andre Drummond.&nbsp;
But if the front office feels a greater compulsion to act, they have the players and draft picks to create enticing trades. Minnesota holds the No. 19 pick in the first round of the NBA Draft, and Nos. 40, 48 and 50 in the second round. How many of these selections will stay in the Twin Cities with a roster nearly full already?&nbsp;
Our Senior NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock projects Minnesota to select Kennedy Chandler at No. 19, and then Ismael Kamagate, Jalen Williams and Hugo Besson in the second round of <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his latest 2022 NBA Mock Draft</a>. Chandler could develop into a steady backup point guard behind D'Angelo Russell, while the others profile as high-upside swings that Minnesota doesn't need to step into the game right now.
One more wrinkle to monitor is Leandro Bolmaro, the No. 23 pick from the 2020 NBA Draft. The Argentinian wing spent most of 2021-22 with the Iowa Wolves in the G League, and put up 12.9 points, 5.4 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game. Is Bolmaro ready to make an NBA impact?
The Timberwolves don't need to rush their franchise timeline. Anthony Edwards is only in his second season, and as we saw in the playoffs, still radiates untapped potential despite his ascendancy. Towns is the second-oldest player currently under contract, and even he's still just 26.&nbsp;
But there's no turning back once a young roster makes the NBA playoffs. Minnesota has set postseason play as the minimum standard for next season, and with youth comes expected improvement in each subsequent season.
Now Gupta, or whoever the next president of basketball operations is, must steer the franchise toward a path to greater heights this summer.
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A disappointing first-round series masked what was a breakout season for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

2022 NBA offseason preview: What's next for the Minnesota Timberwolves?

The Minnesota Timberwolves have parted ways with president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, the team announced today.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski <a href="https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1440768842641203202?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> that Sachin Gupta is set to take over the position on an interim basis while the team conducts a search for a permanent replacement.
According to reports from <a href="https://twitter.com/DaneMooreNBA/status/1440759656578641920?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dane Moore of the Dane Moore Podcast</a> of the Dane Moore Podcast and <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeLFischer/status/1440758240308961280?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report</a>, the new ownership group of Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have candidates in mind for the team's front office moving forward. Moore insists that Gupta is an option internally, though Minnesota would like to land a "top five" candidate to run basketball operations. Fischer suggests that the organization is fond of Philadelphia 76ers general manager Elton Brand.
This is a stunning move at the top of the Wolves' front office. Rosas had spent just two full seasons with Minnesota, where he oversaw the Andrew Wiggins-D'Angelo Russell trade and the selection of Anthony Edwards with the 2020 No. 1 overall pick. It is unclear if the Timberwolves have a replacement lined up.
Minnesota is in the midst of an ownership change, with Lore Alex Rodriguez in line to take the franchise from Glen Taylor in the coming years.
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Rosas had been atop the Wolves' front office for just two full seasons.

Lior