FIN - Finns celebrate historic win for "55 minutes", stay grounded

KOPER (EuroBasket/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Finland may have pulled off one of their biggest victories in history, but they cannot afford to celebrate too much their EuroBasket 2013 opening win over Turkey.

"This ranks as one of the biggest victories for our country," said Finland point guard Teemu Rannikko, who has played for Finland since 2001.

"It's a great win. Turkey are a very, very big team. They were in the Final of the last FIBA Basketball World Championship."

The magnitude of the result was not lost on Finland coach Henrik Dettmann, who has headed Suomi since 2004.

"This is like a life-time chance to beat Turkey. We really, really have great respect for Turkish basketball. We have seen what has happened in the last two decades in Turkey. They are a bench mark for everybody," said Dettman, who also coached Germany to the bronze medal at the 2002 FIBA World Championship.

The victory comes two summers after Finland shocked many observers by beating Bosnia & Herzegovina en route to the second round of EuroBasket 2011. Playing in their first European Championship since 1995, the Finns nearly reached the Quarter-Finals and finished ninth in Lithuania.

But the Scandinavians remained grounded after the upset over Turkey.

"It's great to get an opening win against such a world-class opponent. We can't ask for more. But we have to forget about it and look ahead to Sweden. That's the main thing in our mind. We can celebrate for about 55 minutes,” said Finland veteran Hanno Mottola, playing in his third EuroBasket.

Rannikko second that.

"We cannot be satisfied with one win. There are five games in the first stage. Our goal was to win all the games. We are not saying we are going to win all the games but every time we play we will try to win,” he warned.

Mottola did however venture a mini-look forward.

"If we believe in what we do, I think we're going to travel to Ljubljana for that second week," said the big man, who has played for Finland since 1995.

"This was a great game, but it was just one game. We already thinking about game tomorrow (Thursday against Sweden)," added Dettmann.

Another chance for Finland to continue their impressive run of late.

For full and in-depth coverage of EuroBasket 2013, go to the official website http://www.eurobasket2013.org.

FIBA