Kristaps Porzingis Puts On A Scoring Clinic In EuroBasket Win

Similar to the Serbia game, Latvia called the dogs off early on, specifically Porzingis, who scored 16 points in 18 minutes of play. He finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and two blocks while the Bertans brothers, Davis and Dairis, combined for 40 points on 50% or higher from the three-point line. The game ended in a 34-point blowout, but it really took a turning point in the third quarter, as Latvia went on a 28-12 scoring run, which was part of a solid shooting performance where they shot 59% from the field and 47% from three-point range.

After the game, Porzingis spoke with the media and gave his thoughts on how the team is improving over each game:

"I would say so. I think we didn't look so good in the first, we started to look better in the second, third, fourth... The trajectory is going in the right direction."

Porzingis would also go on to address his Latvian teammate, Roland Smits comments about Latvia being favorites to reach the tournament finals:

"That's good that he has that kind of a mindset. That's important, we need to have that kind of a mindset that we wanna go all the way. We're playing at home, we've got nothing to lose, we have to leave it all out there. From his mouth into God's ear."

For Czechia, the defensive problems persisted, as they had no answers for the Bertans brothers, including Porzingis, and struggled to stop the onslaught that occurred inside the paint. As for Krejci, today was okay as he scored 11 points, but shot 4/11 36% from the field, and shot 37% from three-point range in 24 minutes of play. Czechia appeared to be a team that didn't have much to play for and essentially threw in the towel as the game progressed, but this was a team that had much higher expectations before the tournament began.

As for Latvia, they will take on a Lithuanian team with which they have a long-standing rivalry, a neighboring country. This matchup typically features a lot of intense back-and-forth play due to the historical matches between the two teams and their contrasting styles of the game. For Latvia, they prefer to play a more modern, fast-paced, high-scoring offensive style versus Lithuania's traditionally fundamental and physical approach. The player matchup to pay attention to in this would be Jonas Valanciunas and Porzingis, who are both NBA players with the ability to mix it up in the post amongst each other.

Latvia and Lithuania will play against each other in the round of 16 on Saturday, September 6, 2025, at 11:30 AM.

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