On Thursday, August 21, the Latvian men’s national team defeated Italy in their final warm-up game before the European Championship final tournament in Athens – 83:68 (25:16, 42:33, 66:49). The Latvian squad currently consists of 15 players, with the official EuroBasket 2025 roster expected to be announced on Sunday.
In the game against Italy, Artūrs Žagars (precaution after a bruise sustained in the previous match), Andrejs Gražulis (cold), and Rodions Kurucs (whose club categorically opposed his participation in EuroBasket) were left out of the lineup.
A 14:2 run at the start, a slump of 3:17 midway through the first half (27:27), and a 12:2 surge (41:31) before halftime – the wide player rotation and occasional excessive risks in offense reminded that this was still just a warm-up match. For the third game in a row, Latvia made more three-pointers than two-pointers, and with impressive accuracy (9/19 at halftime). The Italian team, in contrast, went 0/11.
Latvia also started the second half more forcefully, reaching a decisive lead (59:39) by the 27th minute, which they comfortably maintained until the final buzzer.
Throughout the game, Latvia showed very strong three-point shooting accuracy (15/31 compared to Italy’s 2/17), and productive offense in the paint (2-pointers: 12/22 compared to 20/44).
Artūrs Kurucs scored 13 points (3-pointers 4/5), Rolands Šmits 13, Kristaps Porziņģis 12 (8 rebounds, 6 assists!), and Dāvis Bertāns 12.
Latvia’s head coach Luca Banchi said: “We played better than the day before. We had to adapt to the emergency situation when several players were unavailable and the rotation changed. We played quite organized, limiting the Italian team’s aggressiveness. Still, we need to add small but very important details as we prepare for battles in a very tough group, which also includes the tournament’s main favorite – Serbia.”
Source: latvijav.basket.lv
