Finland moved to 2-0 at EuroBasket 2025 with victory over Great Britain but there’s a glaring problem for the Susijengi. The Finnish D simply hasn’t been up to the level required through the first two games. Emmet Ryan sees a solution of sorts, relying less on Lauri Markkanen and more on Miikka Muurinen.
Considering Finland have won both their opening games at EuroBasket 2025, it may seem harsh to be concerned about their prospects. The Susijengi are all but certain to advance to the knockout stages due to those two wins. Yet the performance against Great Britain showed no marked improvement defensively from the narrow win over Sweden. Tampere, we have a problem.
It’s too obvious
The game against Great Britain is the one every other team in Group B has marked down as ‘must not lose.’ There is plenty of fight in the British but an obvious difference in quality. A team that expects to go deep at EuroBasket 2025 needs to do more than just get the win.
Finland clearly didn’t get the memo. Space was all too easy to find for the British. Myles Hesson, Akwasi Yeboah, and Amin Adamu repeatedly found themselves open at a level they likely weren’t expecting. When it came to closing down in the half court, the underdog British were clearly more disciplined.
For much of the game, as was the case with the win over Sweden, Finland’s defensive strategy seemed to be just hoping Lauri Markkanen pulled off a miracle steal. Now, he’s really good at those but it’s not a sustainable strategy. Everyone knows Markkanen is going to score a bunch but relying on him as your core defensive plan feels foolhardy.
Needs more Miikka
If a conventional approach isn’t working then it’s time to try what might work. Miikka Muurinen made his presence felt mostly on the offensive end in the win over Sweden. It was however whenever he was on the floor against Great Britain that Finland looked at their most comfortable defensively.
Muurinen is 18 and still developing but his fundamental core discipline shone through on the defensive end. When he was there, the British had real struggles attacking the inside. Now, that didn’t exactly solve the perimeter defensive problems the Susijengi had.
Yet it can play a role in that respect. Muurinen providing extra stability on the inside can enable Lauri Markkanen or Mikael Jantunen to be deployed differently. This in turn could, and the word could is doing a lot of heavy lifting, bring up the defensive level a good bit.
BallinEurope is ramping up its YouTube game this season. Subscribe to our channel now for player exclusives, analysis videos, and much more.
An offensive identity
It’s mid-tournament. The defensive issues that have plagued Finland have been obvious during the preparation games. It is safe to say that there is nothing the Susijengi can do to be considered a defensive juggernaut at EuroBasket 2025. That’s fine so long as they are defensively adequate.
This team rides or dies with Lauri Markkanen’s buckets. He was in fine form against an overmatched Great Britain on Friday night. The Utah Jazz man will need that and more if Finland are to match or surpass their run to the quarter finals in 2022.
Let Lauri cook. That’s the best way for Finland to succeed. Making Miikka Muurinen more of a focal point on D can enable Markkanen to focus more on what the Susijengi need the most out of him. When Markkanen is cooking, it’s much easier for the likes of Sasu Salin to step up and support the scoring load.
BallinEurope has a book, a real life actual book called I Like it Loud, and you can buy it on Amazon now. It’s here as a book and here in Kindle form.
Finland’s fans would have more reason to smile at EuroBasket 2025 if their team could fix their defensive issues.
It needs to happen now
Time isn’t exactly on the Susijengi’s side. Finland face Montenegro on Saturday night. While Nikola Vucevic and company suffered heavy defeats in their opening two games, don’t let that deceive you. In many respects, their tournament really begins on Saturday night against Finland.
That’s the first truly winnable game they will have marked. If Finland play the type of D they have through the first two games of EuroBasket 2025, they will be in big trouble. In truth, even with Lauri Markkanen going lights out, the Susijengi need more than that. A win over Montenegro locks them into third. That would still mean a nightmare last 16 game against Turkey or Serbia.
Deploying Miikka Muurinen on Saturday against Montenegro is vital towards seeing if that will work on Tuesday against Lithuania. It’s an awful lot to ask an 18 year old to become a team’s defensive identity, even one as promising as Muurinen. Right now, it seems the only way to give them a shot at an extended stay in Riga come the elimination games.
Leave a Reply