EuroBasket 2022: Spain vs. France Preview, Odds, Prediction

Spain and France meet in the EuroBasket finals this Sunday. The two European powerhouses, who won three of the past four finals, are yet again clashing in the battle for the medal. The rivalry might not be present as in the past, because the generations have changed, but still, don’t expect anything less than a massive battle at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin. The stakes are high, and the winner will be the side with fewer mistakes. Or the one that makes more three-pointers, which has been the unwritten rule at this EuroBasket.

Preview

Spain (+135) reached the finals even though nobody saw them here. They played mediocre basketball in the group stage, losing to Belgium, and squeezing through against Turkey. Though Sergio Scariolo is an experienced guy, and he probably targeted the form for the crucial part of the championship.

His team was better than Lithuania in the Round of 16, eliminating Valanciunas and Sabonis only after the overtimes, which saw 30 points combined. They would play against Finland in the quarterfinals, winning that one 100-90, and then had a tough challenge vs. hosts Germany. Spain was better, 96-91, erasing a double-digit deficit in the final period.

The New Orleans Pelicans big man, Willy Hernangomez, is the top scorer with 17.6 points and the top rebounder on the team, 6.8 boards. Yet, Lorenzo Brown is the key player of the unit, with the American who took Spanish citizenship shortly before the EuroBasket being the brain of the team. His 15.4 points and 7.1 assists are indispensable on the floor, as Brown organizes pretty much everything in Spain’s game.

France (-155) had a roller-coaster tournament here. They had two defeats in the group stage, to the hosts, Germany and Slovenia, with the latter being one with the most shameful officiating during this competition.

After that, the Gauls saw back-to-back games with overtimes in the Round of 16 and the quarterfinals, managing to get out on the winning side in both. We need to note here that France had a lot of luck, with some wild occurrences happening in the finishes of both clashes. Turks were missing free throws and the inbound possession, while the Italians missed almost everything.

Later on, in the semis, France blew away Poland, 95-54, displaying its full power. This team doesn’t have one player who is a leader, and it acts as a team, with the top three scorers having similar stats, Guerschon Yabusele, 15 ppg, Evan Fournier, 14.4 and Rudy Gobert 13.6.

Head to Head Games

The two teams had played a pair of friendly games last year before the Olympics started, and Spain won in both, 86-77 at home and 87-79 on the road. Though, after that, we saw the French team taking the silver in the Olympics, while Spain didn’t reach the medal.

Prediction

With all seen here, we believe that France has more chances to win the title, because of their very tough and hard defense, and also because Willy and Juancho Hernangomez won’t have too much space like in the previous games because of Gobert and the other athletic big guys from the French team. The three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year will have a huge role here.

Pick: France to win