EuroBasket 2025: Türkiye outmatches Greece: Larkin and co. reach the final.

Riga, September 12, 2025 – Mother of the Turks, one might say. The second Eurobasket semifinal featured a monotonous Turkey (68-94), who decisively defeated Greece in one of the most anticipated matches of the competition. The one-sided matchup favored the Bosphorus team, who will return to the final of the tournament twenty-four years after their last appearance (in 2001). Greece, however, lost its dream of a gold medal, a 20-year absence. The performance from the Hellenic team was too subdued to even attempt to trouble their opponents.

A clear indicator is the haul collected by Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished with just twelve points and the same number of rebounds on 46% field goal shooting. This statistic is well below his average of 29.2 points, which he recorded until the quarterfinals. On the other hand, a superb Ercan Osmani made the difference, scoring 28 points, fueled by 11-for-15 shooting from the field, including 6-for-8 from long range. Alperen Sengun also had a double-double, clocking in with fifteen points and twelve catches. The difference in assists was also clear: twenty-seven for the Turks compared to sixteen for the Greeks, who suffered their fourth defeat in their history against Turkey. This matchup marks the twelfth head-to-head with the one played at the Riga Arena.

Antetokounmpo underperforms, Osmani and teammates unstoppable

Turkey immediately stepped on the gas, taking a 7-0 lead with their MVP, Osmai, making it 12-3. This sounded alarm bells for Vasileios Spanoulis's bench, who found a valuable asset to stem his roster's defensive hemorrhage: Tyler Dorsey. Two of his eight attempted three-pointers were pure oxygen for the white-and-blues, forced to chase an opponent who showed they had an edge. In the seventh game, Kostas Papanikolaou added his name to the scoreboard, making it 10-15, keeping the game open. Larkin and Osmani came on to give Turkey their first double-digit lead, closing the first quarter 16-26. Greece attempted to get back on track with Kalaitzakis , who made it 20-26, capitalizing on a lean spell for the Turkish attack. The match quickly turned around, with Osman and his teammates leaving their opponents behind, dropping to a 19-point deficit (24-43). The contributions of Korkmaz, Larkin, and the usual Osmani were crucial. Sloukas and Mitoglu made a couple of interesting plays, but they didn't change the momentum of the match, which remained firmly in Turkey's hands, extending the lead to a 26-point lead at the end. And on Sunday at 8:00 PM, Germany is ready for the duel, fresh from their convincing victory against Finland in today's first semifinal.