Zurab Talakvadze

Lauri Markkanen awaits for Georgia

Georgia is having a historic tournament. Beaten are heavy favorites Spain and France, while an unexpected opponent is hiding in the shadows. And we are talking about Finland, with some heavy shooters around the perimeter and some defense alongside three point area as well. This Finland upset Serbia with the giant killer Nikola Jokic playing his usual dominant self. And, Finland is setting the standard as how the battle should be won. Well, alongside Georgia.

Now, we are talking the guy, that Finland relies most on. We are talking a guy, who can dominate any given matchup and who can easily dethrone any defender thrown at him. This guy comes closest to that German assassin called Dirk and this guy is a scoring and rebounding machine. Well, enough compliments and lets talk about the player everybody expected to dominate at this eurobasket. Ladies and gentlemen, enter the arena of mister Lauri Markkanen! Here we go.

Markkanen is the third best scorer (26.0) at this event. Considering, that the first two places belong to craze Luka and Giannis the Freak, Markkanen occupies the Top spot. Lauri started the pre-season to this Eurobasket on a high, when he was tormenting any given opponent and Markkanen continues to shine here as well. Teams change, defenses collapse around him, but mister Markkanen stays the same. A quiet assassin, who demolishes almost every try of stopping him. That is Lauri at his best!

Lauri had some downfalls, but those were expected ones, to say the least. He had a quiet game against Germany, when he missed all 5 of his three pointers and finished with 11 points and 9 rebounds. German defenders were giving him a tough shots, but Lauri just did not have his best shooting game. And, Finland got beaten easy. Lauri missed a lot of shots against Serbia as well (1/9 on long distance shots), but he scored when it mattered most and Lauri still filled the boxscore with 24 points and 8 rebounds to go alongside 4 (!) steals and dimes. Lauri was universal soldier for the passionate underdog and Markkanen was the man on a mission. In the end, Markkanen delivered. Well, like always on NT level. Markkanen is just another beats in the rich history of this tournament.

Georgia has a lot of strong bodies to be thrown at Lauri. They can switch easy on Finland’s lethal weapon and they make him work hard, while moving Lauri from the comfort zone. Markkanen is hard to defend one on one, but you can make him work harder anytime he gets the ball. This will be the plan. Easy to say, hard to deliver, dear friends. And, almost everybody on team Georgia knows that. Lauri is in a perfect shape and Lauri is a slayer with a two way sword. A tough task for Georgia indeed.

France never had a player as talented as Markkanen and France never had so many deadly shooters as Finland. And for Georgia to reach the quarters, it is extra motivation that instead of dominant Serbia, we have to face Finland. Georgia is ready for Finland, but Finland is also getting ready for Georgia instead of France.

The teams will rested and when when the final siren explodes, only one will be standing.

Georgia or Finland?

Lauri or the best captain in the history of GNT Toko Shengelia?

We will have the final answer pretty soon. The bloodbath awaits.