EuroBasket 2022, Final, Sunday, 18/09/2022
Dinner is served! Basketball fan Mats Hummels will be disappointed about it as well as 82 million of his fellow citizens, but the final of this EuroBasket 2022 is “unfortunately” Spain vs. France!
In my Spain France tip, I will draw the reader’s attention to the fact that two homogeneous national teams are meeting here, which are primarily characterised by a cohesive team performance.
Nevertheless, I think that the best sports betting providers in the world are going a bit too far out on a limb with their favouritism of the French!
The German dream of a 2nd European Championship title was finally shattered on Friday evening in the Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin. Was it the lack of experience of the DBB selection or just the nerves of the Spaniards that turned things around in the end?
After all, from Germany’s point of view, there was no reason to give up this semi-final. With a solid lead and their own crowd behind them, Germany already seemed to have more than one foot in the final.
Especially since Dennis Schröder played an impressive game: from alley-oops to gravity-defying baskets, the ex-Lakers player put on a great performance! Nevertheless, thanks to a strong final quarter, Spain still managed to pull away in the end with 96:91!
For once, the best player for Spain on Friday was not Willy Hernangomez, but his team-mate Lorenzo Brown, who scored 29 points against the DBB selection, just as he did in the last 16 against Lithuania (28 points).
The venue for the Eurobasket final is – once again – the Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin, where the match for third place between Germany and Poland will be played immediately before. The latter, by the way, got a real basketball lesson.
In their 54-95 defeat by France, the Poles suffered a historic defeat that has only rarely – if ever – been seen in this phase of the European Championship.
Slovenia has Luka Doncic, Germany has Dennis Schröder, Serbia has Nikola Jokic and Greece has Giannis Antetokounmpo, but do the Spanish or French have a world-class NBA star?
Not at first glance, even though both teams naturally have first-class players in their ranks who cause a stir on both sides of the pond. However, both neighbouring countries define themselves on the court primarily through “balanced team performances”.
After all, neither Spain nor France is known for having a player capable of scoring more than half of his team’s points (47), as Luka Doncic did in Slovenia’s 88-82 win over the French in the preliminary round.
Remember: France finished the preliminary round in third place, losing their group games to Germany and Slovenia! In the subsequent knockout phase, the French even had to go into extra time in two out of three games.
By contrast, Spain’s tournament performance was much more “commanding”, if that word can be used at all with such a density of performances as prevailed at this tournament.
However, Spain finished the preliminary round in first place and “only” had to go into overtime against the strong Lithuanians in the knockout phase. Against Finland (100:90) and Germany (96:91), on the other hand, they got by without a heart-stopping final!
The provider Bet365 is of course an excellent bookmaker, but like many of its competitors, it leans out of the window a bit too much in my eyes.
Spain are the reigning world champions, have just knocked perhaps the strongest team out of the tournament – and “nevertheless” the Furja Roja go into this duel as relatively clear underdogs with odds of around 2.35. I would therefore not give this assessment too much credence.
I would therefore not wholeheartedly agree with this assessment, especially as Spain have already won each of the last four direct duels.
Conclusion: Of course a close match is to be expected, there is no doubt about that! However, I can’t quite understand the pronounced role of the French as favourites on the betting markets.
Spain will enter this final as the reigning world champions, having won all of their last four direct duels against France and, on top of that, ventured into the lion’s den in the semi-finals to successfully pull the wool over France’s eyes!
France may indeed win in the end, but the rather meagre average of 1.60 that is currently being traded for a success for the Equipe Tricolore would not be worth the risk for me personally.
My Spain France tip: Espana also wins the EuroBasket!
