Group J: Estonia upset Slovenia on Kullamae three; Finland, Germany to battle for top spot
There was loads of drama on the penultimate game day in Group J of the European Qualifiers with Finland coming back from 16 points down to beat Israel in overtime and Estonia beat Slovenia on a late three.
MUNICH (Germany) - There was plenty of drama on the penultimate game day in Group J of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers with Estonia upsetting Slovenia on a three-pointer with 2.0 seconds left and Finland coming back from 16 points down to beat Israel on the road in overtime.
All three spots to the World Cup have been determined from the group, but the crowds in Israel and Estonia certainly were entertained on Gameday 11.
Group J
15/18 games played
| GAMES | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Germany(1) | 11 | 9 | 2 | 81.8 | 873 | 773 | 100 | 79.4 | 70.3 | 20 |
| 2 | Finland(1) | 11 | 9 | 2 | 81.8 | 897 | 847 | 50 | 81.5 | 77 | 20 |
| 3 | Slovenia(1) | 11 | 7 | 4 | 63.6 | 915 | 871 | 44 | 83.2 | 79.2 | 18 |
| 4 | Sweden | 11 | 5 | 6 | 45.5 | 848 | 867 | -19 | 77.1 | 78.8 | 16 |
| 5 | Israel | 11 | 3 | 8 | 27.3 | 857 | 869 | -12 | 77.9 | 79 | 14 |
| 6 | Estonia | 11 | 3 | 8 | 27.3 | 798 | 906 | -108 | 72.5 | 82.4 | 14 |
Kullamae late three for Estonia shocks Slovenia
Kristian Kullamae drained a three-pointer with 2.0 seconds left to give Estonia a thrilling 79-78 victory over Slovenia. The game saw 14 lead changes and 12 ties and in the end it was the home side left standing in Tallinn for a 3-8 record while Slovenia fell to 7-4.
There were four lead changes in the opening minutes until an 11-1 run pushed Estonia ahead 20-12. Slovenia had spurts of 8-0 and 7-0 to go up by five points and led 40-37 at intermission. Neither team could open an advantage bigger than four points in the third quarter and Slovenia led 59-55 after 30 minutes.
Slovenia led 68-62 but Estonia surged back ahead at 71-70. The Balkan side reclaimed the lead with Ziga Samar and Aleksej Nikolic both draining a pair of free throws with for a 78-75 lead with less than 10 seconds left.
Kullamae was sent to the line and made one of two - missing the second intentionally, but left too early. But Samar overthrew the ensuing inbounds pass to give the ball back to Estonia and set up Kullamae’s heroics - hitting the decisive triple after stepping to his left.
ICE RUNNING THROUGH HIS VEINS! ❄️
— FIBA Basketball World Cup (@FIBAWC) February 24, 2023
Kristian Kullamae with the dagger three to win it for Estonia! 🇪🇪#FIBAWC x #WinForAll pic.twitter.com/Lf6iQa7NZV
Kullamae finished with 12 points while Hugo Toom had 15 points and Kaspar Treier added 13 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Gregor Glas poured in 18 points for Slovenia and Samar ended with 13 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists.
Finland fightback secures overtime win over Israel
Finland added another important lesson learned from the European Qualifiers as they proved they could rally from a big deficit and pull out the victory. Lassi Tuovi's side trailed by 16 points early in the second half but did not lose their composure, winning 97-95 on the road in overtime over Israel.
Ilari Seppala scored 9 of his 15 points in the final couple of minutes of overtime to push Finland to a 9-2 record while Israel fell to 3-8. Sasu Salin scored 18 points with 5 three-pointers, Alex Murphy had 17 points and 9 rebounds and Mikael Jantunen added 15 points. Bar Timor paced Israel with 27 points and 6 assists.
Elias Valtonen can do it both 🏀 x 🏐#FIBAWC x #WinForFinland pic.twitter.com/mxUkGrpssF
— FIBA Basketball World Cup (@FIBAWC) February 24, 2023
Tomer Ginat and Timor started on fire, combining for 15 points in building a 21-11 lead. The gap was up to 28-13 after 10 minutes. Finland managed to trim the gap to five points midway through the second quarter but the Israeli lead grew to 57-41 before Finland used three-pointers to chip away and knot it 75-75 and went up 76-75.
With the game tied at 80-80, Timor drained his fourth three-pointer with 37 seconds left. After two Finland free throws, Timor turned the ball over and Netanel Artzi was ruled to have committed an unsportsmanlike foul on Jantunen with 2.3 seconds left. Jantunen could only split the foul shots and the game went to overtime.
Bar Timor
In the extra period, Israel went up five points, but Seppala drained back-to-back three-pointers to reclaim the lead. Finland added three free throws on their next possession to complete a 9-0 run. With Finland up 97-95 with 6 seconds left, Jantunen missed two more free throws, giving Israel one more chance but Timor's long three-ball was off target.
Germany build confidence ahead of Finland game
Germany gave themselves some confidence ahead of their big showdown with Finland for first place in the group on the final game day by knocking off Sweden 73-66 at home. Germany took control in the second half of the second quarter and carried it to a 9-2 record with Sweden falling to 5-6.
The first 15 minutes were tight as neither team could pull away by more than three points. Germany had a 10-1 spurt to lead 35-26 and the gap was 40-31 at halftime. Germany increased the cushion to 54-41 as they held Sweden to just two points over nearly 5 minutes. The lead was 57-45 after 30 minutes.
Not in mein house 🚫#FIBAWC x #WinForAll pic.twitter.com/ePUAfFKJLv
— FIBA Basketball World Cup (@FIBAWC) February 24, 2023
Sweden scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to pull within seven points but Germany were back up 12 points moments later. Sweden tried to make things interesting in getting the deficit to 6 points inside the final minute. But it was too little too late.
David Kramer led Germany with 13 points while Karim Jallow had 11 points, Jonas Richter picked up 9 points and 14 rebounds and Johannes Voigtmann chipped in 6 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Nicholas Spires scored 13 points for Sweden in the loss.
FIBA