Finland is officially the surprise of EuroBasket. In the round of 16, they defeated Serbia, who only a week ago were the big favourites for the title, with NBA stars Nikola Jokić and Nikola Jović. Finnish Sasu Salin, who plays for Spanish club Estudiantes, said that of that match that it felt like "David against Goliath".
Then, on Wednesday, they defeated Georgia, another big surprise of the tournament (executioners of France) with forcefulness: 93-79, to secure their first ever EuroBasket semi-final.
Finland took a huge early on (28-15 on the first quarter) but never slowed down, and despite Georgia improving in the middle stages of the match, they always trailed behind. The Finnish team had a 53.1% accuracy of field shots and 17 out of 31 three pointers converted, vs. 41.8% field accuracy and only 10 out of 31 from Georgian players.
Sasu Salin says it's been "kind of a dream" to be in this situation
Salin, one of the most veteran players of the Finnish team, which was already playing for his nation the last time they faced Georgia in 2011, said that he would have never imagined, 14 years ago, that they would be in this situation.
A semi-final against Slovenia or Germany on Friday awaits them, and Salin says they will prepare it with the same mentality: "We're going to win the game. We're going to prepare as well as we can, and we're gonna do the adjustments. Then, we go to the game like we're gonna walk out as winners."