Jazz’s Lauri Markkanen Has Shot at History in EuroBasket

Georgia has had an interesting run so far throughout their time in this year's tourney. Led by Orlando Magic center Goga Bitadze, they finished the group stage with a 2-3 record, falling to Greece, Italy, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, they still made enough headway to reach the knockout round of the tourney, taking down France in a double-digit victory, and now preparing to face a red-hot Markkanen and Finland, who have a game of historic proportions ahead.

Finland is coming fresh off one of the most notable upsets in recent international basketball history from Saturday's victory over Serbia and two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. With a victory over Georgia, Markkanen and Finland would effectively have the country's best finish in EuroBasket history, besting their historic top-six finish in 1967.

The last time Finland reached the EuroBasket quarter-finals? That came during the last time Markkanen took the floor in EuroBasket with Finland in 2022, where they navigated to a seventh-place finish in a run that would inevitably be ended by the eventual champions, Spain.

This time around, though, Finland won't have the same type of powerhouse in front of them. Georgia is a relatively beatable team, one that's gone 4-2 so far in the tourney, including the group stage, and may have the means to reach that final four spot, where they would go on to face the winner of Germany and Slovenia.

Markkanen will have a few days rest before the action tips off between Georgia and Finland on Wednesday, September 10th.