The quarter finals of EuroBasket 2022 are here and the final quarter final sees Slovenia take on Poland
All games from now on are at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, Germany
When?
20.30 CEST, 19.30 BST, 14.30 EST, 11.30 PST
How they got here
Despite suffering a dramatic defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the group stage, Slovenia (5-1) has been breathtaking throughout this tournament. A closer than expected win over Belgium in the last 16 was preceded by thrilling group wins over Lithuania, Germany, and France.
Poland (4-2) have been the Jekyll and Hyde team of this tournament, looking terrible in losses to Serbia and Finland but impressing in their four wins over Israel, Netherlands, Czech Republic, and in the last 16 over Ukraine.
Need to know
Poland have no pressure. They’ve made the last 8 for the first time since 1997, they did so without any NBA stars, and the whole world expects them to just stand aside for Slovenia. That suits Poland fine who have proven business like and rode the scoring of AJ Slaughter and Mateusz Ponitka to outperform expectations. There is no team happier with being written off before a game in EuroBasket than this Poland side.
Slovenia have leaned even heavier on Luka Doncic than was expected prior to the tournament, and everyone expected them to really lean on Luka. The Dallas Mavericks superstar has played a heavy load at this event and will welcome the extended rest he’s had since Saturday afternoon to get ready for this one. More is expected from Vlatko Cancar (Denver Nuggets) and Goran Dragic (Chicago Bulls) in this one.
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Miscellaneous extras
This tournament is of significant emotional importance to Goran Dragic as, despite being MVP while winning with Slovenia in 2017, this is a chance to win the title with his brother in the team. Injuries kept Zoran Dragic out of the 2017 squad but both brothers will hope this one last ride together ends in glory.
Poland will hope to get more fans into the arena after Sunday’s success. The relative lack of support for them in the win over Ukraine, given Poland’s proximity to Germany and the strong Polish population in the country, was a surprise but now they have reason to believe and they’re going against one of the best players in the world. That and the volleyball is over so there’s no big distraction in Katowice.
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What do the bookies say?
No surprises here as Slovenia are the most favoured of all the favourites in the quarter finals at 9/100 while Poland are considerable outsiders at 9/1. Slovenia are favoured by -14.5 on the point spread.
What do we say?
If this was a game where Luka didn’t get good rest, I’d be running away from that spread but a fresh Luka along with the rest of Slovenia should be far too strong for Poland.
The pick
Slovenia to win and cover.
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