In a showdown between the only unbeaten teams in Group F of the preliminaries for the 42nd European Basketball Championship 2025, Portugal defeated Bulgaria 88-78 (21-20, 23-32, 23-12, 21-14) on the wing. Dr. Mario Mexia, in Coimbra, in the third round counting match and captained Paul to the tournament to be held in Latvia, Cyprus, Finland and Poland in which 32 countries will participate.
After the first half (44-52) in which the men led by Mario Gomez initially had some difficulty stopping the Bulgarian three-pointers – they scored 6 until the 13th minute and went to the dressing room with 8/13 – and later in defensive exchanges and cuts in The back inside the painted area, allowing the opponent, where Chavdar Kostov (17 points, 3 scores, 2 behind), to lead by 8 on two occasions (40-48 and 44-52), the Seleção completely changed its defensive position in the second half as well as the course of the match.
Defensive aggressive Diogo Prieto (19 points, 4 scores, 4 behind) and Travant Williams (18 points, 5 scores, 2 behind) and down-table assist Daniel Rilvao (6) gave the first shockwave over the mark unexpectedly. Part of 12-4 (56-56) destroyed the Bulgarian offensive move and cleared time and space for easy shots in the face of a two-on-one pressure.
However, the coach’s choice to use two position 1 bases such as Rafael Lisboa (18 points) and Diogo Ventura (4 points, 6 Donkey) and everyone’s position on the field, allowed after a 56-59 sequence of 10-0 (67-59) would not Never allow Portugal to be at a disadvantage again.
In the last quarter, as Lisbon and Ventura led the rhythm of the match and opened spaces for Seleção not to break it, even when Constantin (8 points, 5 points) and David Kravec (14 points, 7 points) starred to reduce the gap to 1 (74-73), Miguel Queiroz (11 points, 6 scores) brought in other solutions from both sides of the field and missed corners for some ineffectiveness in the final minutes in order to keep the difference cap of 13 after another part of 12-0 (86-73) or even extend it to travel more comfortably When, on February 26, they have to play in Bulgaria in a match that will close the preliminaries and possibly decide the group winner.
But for now, it will host Portugal on Sunday, again in Coimbra, Romania, which was defeated in the first round by a score of 59-75. Nemeas Quetta’s debut for the senior national team, but a player that Mario Gomez can no longer count on at this point due to position commitments in the United States with the Sacramento Kings (NBA) and Stockton Kings (J-League).
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