Zurab Talakvadze

Goga Bitadze and his team are going to the next stage!

Georgia had the most prolific game of their international history. Georgia downed France 80:70 and for the first time in the young history of Georgian basketball, the country reaches the Eurobasket quarterfinals. And, what a win this was!

Georgia was underdog, but from the first get go, this team played like a contender to beat. France came close on a few occasions, but all in all, Georgia got the win and took no prisoners.

Like an everlasting flame, Georgia was hot from start to finish. Tornike Shengelia had a game of his NT career (Well, the game against Lithuania in 2017 was pretty bombastic as well) and finished with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. And, Toko scored the unofficial game winner, when he knocked down a huge three pointer to give Georgia back the lead in the dying minutes of this dogfight.

Kamar Baldwin was sensational too. 24 points and some clutch shooting from Kamar, who chased down every French body down the stretch. The man was flawless in dictating the tempo and setting up his teammates.

Of course, French did not have the best possible squad, they lacked some big bodies and talent (Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert, Nando De Colo, Evan Furnier) as well, but this day belonged to Georgia. This was Georgia’s game to take.

Georgia was controlling the game and once even led by a double digits. And what a finale this had! Tired Georgia clawed the game from France, which was the heavy favorite before the tip off.

Georgia was killing France from the perimeter as well. 10 three pointers out of 18 attempts and France made only 6 of 36. What a contrast! And, what a defense.

And, while Finland’s win against Serbia was out of this world caliber as well, Georgia had a bigger mountain to climb.

And now, Finland and a guy called Lauri await. A battlefield will be covered with blood and only one team will come out victorious.

Compliments to head coach Aleksandar Dzikic for a great job. For faith and for passion he showed.

And, while talking of biggest upsets in Eurobasket history, first game that comes to mind after this miracle: 2022, Poland. The team of hard workers beat the defending champion Slovenia in the quarterfinals, 90:87, when Mateusz Ponitka had a historic triple-double for his team. 26 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists and this was only the third triple in the history of Eurobasket. The first two belonged to legendary Toni Kukoc (1995, 15 pts, 12 reb, 11 ast) and Andre Mandache from Romania in 2017 (14 pts, 10 reb, 11 ast).

Again, almost no one expected this, but in Georgia, most everybody had a strong belief in this bunch of guys, who fought like lions and downed on of the heavy hitters of this event.

Now, Finnland and Lauri await!