While we are in some break mode, waiting for another night and praying for Kharkiv, tried to sum up thoughts on recent events from basketball perspective . Reflected on my desperation, helplessness and anger. Made some predictions .

What a stretch for Melli-Gallo pairing. Vets are cooking!.

Join millions who have switched to Grok.

Saliou Niang! Agent of chaos!.

Complete defensive fail from Italy to defend Luka. Of course, he's genius. But this is coaching malpractice.

France still have the deepest pool of talent in Europe & will definitely win something big in future . They are also re-setting program now. Though it doesn't overrule that this result is not good at all even with all roster flaws.

- Experience matters. None of these guys played in leadership role for NT at such stages. There were no Batum, Nando or Fournier who could break the game at hardest times . Next time they will know what to expect & what is needed for W. Though I'm stunned w/demise of Cordinier.

Two brief points on France out:. - They couldn't build definite offensive hierarchy through champ. Francisco was closest to leadership, but he's not superstar. Maledon flopped, Okobo not consistent enough, Yabu – great role player w/leadership skills . At key moment it showed. .

Francisco and Jaiteh are keeping France afloat during European championships playoffs. What a time to be alive!.

We can definitely add Andrzej Pluta to the list of players who promoted themselves greatly during this Eurobasket.

Day 1292. Not calm night at all. Especially for larger cities in Ukraine, including Kyiv. russians got back to their terrorists' strategy. Autumn just started, they once again want us to be in darkness & cold in winter . Nothing new. Circles of hell repeats, but who cares?.

Bring @augis04 to the show also!.

Though Lassi Tuovi made great effort to prepare his team for this game. Lots of smaller changes that worked! . Still, amazing. In contrary of 2022 out, today Jokic played amazing game. Still, Serbia is out. Wow.

I can't wrap my head around this result. But this under-estimation from bigger teams is still trademark of big tournaments. Turkey didn't respect Sweden. Barely W. Serbians, who could really beat mega-US team last year, didn't think about Finland seriously. And now going home.

This Serbian fan is great. But people around him are even better. Basketball!.

Let's just write down that Eurobaskets are not Joker's tournaments. .

Feels like Ognjen Dobric is never making open 3p-ter. Sorry, but these semis Olympics are all over the place. .

Lithuania is the greatest surprise of this Euro for me. Not in terms of results. In terms of how they get there. Absolute newcomers decide game after game for them. Incredible! . Great coaching, great understanding of team's abilities. Pathetic Latvia at the same time. .

Lithuania waited at least 8 years for this Arnas Velicka game. And finally get it!.

Rimas Kurtinaitis should get some salary from Denver Nuggets. He's already preparing JV for backup role in NBA season. Voluntarily!.

Decent tournament for Portugal & great for Neemias Queta personally. Bad news for future German opponents: they will not have such bad shooting 33 minutes in next games. Waiting for Baltic derby!.

That's why I HATE all the talks about 16 or even 12-team format for Eurobasket. Let smaller teams/countries have their moment! . Sweden in the morning. Now Portugal. Fun! . And huge respect for fight. Though have zero doubts Germany will have problems in 2nd half.