It's the big day for the last candidates for a ticket to the 2024 Olympics. The four Olympic Qualifiers are preparing to deliver their verdict this Sunday, since we know the matches for the four finals. As a reminder, only the four winners will validate their ticket to the Olympic tournament, which already includes France, Serbia, Germany, Canada, the United States, Australia, Japan and South Sudan. First lesson: the four host countries, Latvia, Spain, Greece and Puerto Rico are at the finals.
At the Riga OQT, Brazil and Latvia secured their place in the final. The Brazilians beat the Philippines (71-60) with the help of the Huertas-Caboclo pair, with 13 points and 7 assists for the former, and 15 points and 11 rebounds for the latter. For their part, Latvia managed to tame Cameroon with Samir Gbetkom, Fabien Ateba and Williams Narace, winning 72-59. Rihards Lomazs (20 points), Rolands Smits (13 points) and Davis Bertans (12 points) were the spearheads of the Latvian team.
After the resounding success of Giannis Antetokounmpo's Greece over Luka Doncic's Slovenia in the shock semi-final of the day at the Piraeus OQT, it was Croatia who secured their ticket, by winning the final against the Dominican Republic (80-77). The experience of the Croatians and in particular the Hezonja-Saric-Zubac trio (12, 14 and 25 points) made the difference. The Dominicans will still have some regrets after coming back to -1 with 7 seconds to go following three successful shots by Jean Montero. The latter also missed his exit, finishing at 1/11 in shooting, but Christopher Duarte, who inherited the last shot to equalize, did not do better than his teammate.
A superb Spain – Bahamas
In Valencia, it is perhaps the most anticipated final that will be played between Spain, the giant of European basketball, which will be opposed to the Bahamas, a selection boosted by the presence of NBAers Eric Gordon, Buddy Hield and Deandre Ayton. The Spanish had to fight to get rid of the Finns (81-74), relying in particular on the 28 points of Willy Hernangomez, without forgetting the 15 points of Lorenzo Brown and Santi Aldama to ensure in the last act, while Finland led with 5 minutes to go. For their part, the Bahamians did the job against Lebanon (89-72), with Buddy Hield (19 points, 10 assists) and Deandre Ayton (24 points, 15 rebounds) in double-doubles.
Finally, the last final will pit Lithuania against Puerto Rico in San Juan. Led by Jose Alvarado since the start of the tournament, the Puerto Ricans were this time able to count on the valuable relays of Tremont Waters (24 points) and Jordan Howard (20 points), authors of their best match of the TQO to overcome Mexico without trembling (98-78).
Schedule of the four finals for the 2024 Olympic Games
– Latvia -Brazil (6 p.m.)
– Greece – Croatia (8 p.m.)
– Spain – Bahamas (8:30 p.m.)
– Puerto Rico – Lithuania (midnight)
