Latvian basketball players win in Greece, they will play the finals of the World Cup / Article for the first time

(added after a favorable result for Latvia in Turkey)
In addition to their own victory, Latvia’s place in the tournament finals three games before qualifying ended was ensured by Belgium’s 52:86 defeat in Turkey later on Friday.

When the team won their sixth group win in seven games, Jānis Strēlnieks stood out for the Latvian national team with 19 points, while Jānis Timmas had 17 points. Nik Gkik and Kost Gontik each scored 11 points for the home team.

The confident defense helped the Latvian international take the lead 7-0 in three minutes. The speed of the attack allowed the Greeks to recover, however, in a battle full of personal notes, the hosts were always ahead and the Latvians went to the first rest with a three-point advantage (16:13). The Greek basketball players continued to attack with very low marksmanship and stood empty for two minutes at the start of the second quarter. Putting more and more pressure on the opponent’s attack, the Latvian national team ended the time with a perfect triple from Jānis Strēlnieks, who gave the team an eight-point lead (36:28).

After the break, the possibilities of the Greeks continued to be squeezed by the long-range shots of the Latvian basketball players and, after Jānis Timma’s triple, the difference reached 18 points four and a half minutes before the last break (56:38) . Since the Greeks were often unable to keep up with the game of the defending opponents, the home team made many inaccuracies, which left them little chance to change the game in their favor. After getting +22 (67:45) at the start of the last quarter, the Latvian national team confidently played the match towards victory.

The Latvian national team went to Greece with a reduced lineup, as Rodions Kurucs cannot play due to injury, Anže Pasečniks was prevented from joining the team due to a stomach virus and Artūrs Žagars was unable to participate due to a positive Covid-19 test. The path to the national team was closed to basketball players from Euroleague clubs Rolandas Šmitas and Artūrs Kurucs, as well as to players from the National Basketball Association (NBA) Kristaps Porzingis and Dāvis Bertāns.

With six wins from seven games, Latvia are the leader of the qualifying round and will play their next match on Monday at “Arena Riga” against Great Britain. The last two matches for the Latvians in the six-team group will be in February against Turkey and at home against the Greeks.

The three strongest teams in the group will go to the finals of the 2023 World Cup.

The final tournament will take place from 25 August to 10 September in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, with the participation of 32 national teams.

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