What if it was the toughest competition in international basketball? Even more than the World Championship and the Olympic Games? With the exception of the United States and Australia, the European championship brings together the best basketball nations, and theEuroBasket 2022 which begins this Thursday offers a dense and exceptional line-up with the last three winners, France, Spain and Slovenia, but also Serbia, Greece or even Croatia and Lithuania.
Rarely has a Euro appeared so undecided, without a real big favorite as Spain could have been for 10 to 15 years. The “Roja” begins a period of transition with the withdrawal of the Gasol brothers, but also the absences of Ricky Rubio and Sergio Llull, and for the first time in a long time, the formation of Sergio Scariolo is not one of the serious candidates for the title .
Slovenia and France media favorites
On the other hand, the defending champion, Slovenia has the possibility of achieving the double, under the impetus of its prodigy Luka Doncic. Five years ago, the general public discovered it. Today, he is quite simply a global superstar, capable of carrying an entire country on his shoulders as he proved at the Tokyo Olympics.
At the same level as Slovenia according to the votes of the media, we find France, silver medalist in Tokyo. Even deprived of Nicolas Batum and Nando De Colo, the Blues have the potential to win a second European championship title after that obtained in 2013. But the defeat in Bosnia this weekend proves that the teammates of Rudy Gobert are not yet masters of their game. Worse, they have fallen into the group of death with Slovenia therefore, but also Lithuania, Germany and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Behind Slovenia and France, many outsiders like Greece and Serbia. Their common point: to rely on a double NBA MVP with Giannis Antetokounmpo for the Greeks and Nikola Jokic for the Serbs. Like Doncic with Slovenia, both Giannis and Jokic have the ability to pull their team to the top, and in such an open competition they can create surprises.
A very strong NBA accent
Mistrust also with Lithuania still as difficult to maneuver, especially as it lands with the “twin towers” Valanciunas-Sabonis. This is the best pair of interiors in this EuroBasket.
Distrust also with Croatia which seems to be starting an upward curve around Dario Saric, Bojan Bogdanovic, Mario Hezonja and Ivica Zubac. Same configuration for Turkey which finds ambitions around its NBAers like Cedi Osman, Alperen Sengun and Furkan Kurkmaz. We will not forget either the host country, Germany. There are a few absentees, but Dennis Schroder and his partners have just beaten Slovenia, and pushed by their public, they are able to play the spoilsport.
In general, the NBA responded with around thirty players, including many stars, and even superstars. We mentioned Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Rudy Gobert, Domantas Sabonis and Jonas Valanciunas, but there is also Evan Fournier, Goran Dragic, Dennis Schroder and Lauri Markkanen.
THE COMPETITION
Initially scheduled for 2021, this EuroBasket has been postponed, due to Covid-19 and the Olympics, and it takes place from September 1 and 18 in four countries. The group stages will take place in four cities, in Tbilisi (Georgia), Prague (Czech Republic), Milan (Italy) and Cologne (Germany) while Berlin (Germany) will host the final stages.
From September 1 to 8, the first phase takes place with four groups of six (A, B, C and D) very unbalanced. You have to finish in one of the first four places to advance to the round of 16 which will take place on September 10 and 11 in Berlin. Then, on September 13 and 14, place in the quarter-finals. On September 16, the two semi-finals. On September 18, the EuroBasket final.
THE FIRST PHASE
Group A : Montenegro, Georgia, Spain, Bulgaria, Belgium and Turkey
Group B : Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Lithuania, France and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Group C : Greece, Estonia, Ukraine, Great Britain, Italy and Croatia
Group D : Serbia, Poland, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Israel and Finland
TELEVISION
In France, the EuroBasket can be followed on the antennas of the Canal+ Group with the brand new channel Canal+ Sport 360. Until Saturday, the matches are broadcast unencrypted.
In the comments, George Eddy, Stéphane Genti and Christophe Denis. This is the last time that the Canal+ Group will broadcast a major basketball competition since from 2023, BeIN Sports will take over.
Thursday, September 1
5:15 p.m. – Lithuania / Slovenia (Canal + Sport 360, unencrypted)
8:30 p.m. – France / Germany (Canal + Sport 360, unencrypted)
Friday, September 2
5:00 p.m. – Croatia/Greece (Canal+ Sport 360, unencrypted)
9:00 p.m. – Italy / Estonia (Canal + Sport 360, unencrypted)
Saturday September 3
5:45 p.m. – France / Lithuania (Canal + Sport 360, unencrypted)
9 p.m. – Greece/Italy (Canal+ Sport)
Sunday September 4
6:40 p.m. – Lithuania/Germany (Canal+ Sport 360)
8:30 p.m. – France/Hungary (Canal+ Sport 360)
Monday, September 5
5:00 p.m. – Great Britain/Greece (Canal+ Sport 360)
9 p.m. – Serbia/Finland (Canal+ Sport 360)
Tuesday, September 6
2:30 p.m. – France/Bosnia and Herzegovina (Canal+ Sport 360)
8:30 p.m. – Germany/Slovenia (Canal+ Sport 360)
Wednesday, September 7
1:30 p.m. – Turkey/Spain (Canal+ Sport 360)
5:15 p.m. – France / Slovenia (Canal+ Sport 360)
8:30 p.m. – Hungary/Germany (Canal+ Sport 360)
Thursday, September 8
5:00 p.m. – Estonia/Greece (Canal+ Sport 360)
9 p.m. – Serbia/Poland (Canal+ Sport 360)
