Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen has been one of the standout performers at EuroBasket this summer.
Finland have a weaker roster than many other teams, so Markkanen has had to shoulder a lot of responsibility.
Well, he has exceeded expectations by leading his country to victories over Sweden, Great Britain, and Montenegro.
However, the seven-foot forward encountered a problem in Finland’s latest game against Lithuania, which he must learn from.
Photo by Takashi Aoyama/Getty ImagesLithuania figured out how to stop Lauri Markkanen
Markkanen had scored over 25 points in each of his three EuroBasket games before he played against Lithuania.
Lithuania held Markkanen to 19 points on 35 percent efficiency from the field and won the game 81-78.
NBA podcaster Adam Mares told Tim Legler that it reminded him of what the Oklahoma City Thunder did to Nikola Jokic in the NBA Playoffs.
“What made this game interesting to me was that Lauri Markkanen had 19 points. Nine of those were in the fourth quarter,” Mares said.
“Lithuania switched everything. It made the big fella, [Jonas] Valanciunas, almost unplayable. He didn’t play a lot of minutes because they wanted to have a switchable lineup so that [Markkanen] could never run a pick-and-roll and wiggle free.
“And then they put a little, pesky Lithuanian Alex Caruso on him and just said, ‘You know what, beat him, get physical,’ and by the way, the game is so much more physical in FIBA.
“He just got physical, fronting him. They brought a guy behind him, and they sandwiched him, a la what the Oklahoma City Thunder did to Nikola Jokic, and just said, ‘We will give up four on three to a Finnish team that doesn’t have great creation and shotmaking because we’re not going to let you give the ball to Lauri Markkanen.’
“‘And, oh by the way, every time you do get it to him, we’re going to treat this like wrestling and we’re going to dare fouls to be called.’ It was unbelievably physical, and as great as Lauri Markkanen has been in this tournament, I thought he made good reads and did a lot of the right things, but he couldn’t finish shots.
“He couldn’t shake free, and he struggled with that. He had 10 points going into the fourth quarter.”
The Utah Jazz can probably now expect NBA teams to employ the same tactics as Lithuania against Markkanen in the regular season.
Photo by Filip Viranovski/FIBA via Getty ImagesOnly Luka Doncic has outscored Lauri Markkanen at EuroBasket
Despite struggling in Finland’s defeat to Lithuania, Markkanen still ranks highly in points scored at EuroBasket 2025.
Only Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic (33.0) is averaging more points per game than Markkanen (29.0) so far.
RankPlayerTeamGamesPPGFG%3P%1.Luka DoncicSlovenia433.040.527.52.Lauri MarkkanenFinland429.048.640.73.Giannis AntetokounmpoGreece229.074.21004.Jordan LoydPoland425.857.761.95.Dennis SchroderGermany422.353.444.4via FIBA
The Finnish player is even scoring more than perennial MVP candidates Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic.
This will need to continue in the knockout rounds for Finland to have any chance of advancing deep into the competition.