How will Serbia cope with the absences?
Is Serbia still the team to beat in this EuroBasket edition after losing their group match against Turkey (90:95)? In the Serbia vs. Finland tip, Svetislav Pesic’s team is the undisputed favorite for now.
The Finns also lost their last game of the group stage. The hosts were crushed 61:91 by Germany. Otherwise, however, top player Lauri Markkanen and his team have performed remarkably well, collecting three wins and only one other defeat. In our Serbia vs. Finland prediction, however, the hosts must expect a similar defeat to the one they suffered against the DBB team.
The Serbian team has already suffered its first setbacks in the group stage. Team captain Bogdan Bogdanovic was injured in the second game and will be unavailable for the rest of the European Championship. However, there are plenty of other talented players in the squad who can justify the Pesic team’s big advantage in the Serbia vs. Finland betting odds.
The last two meetings between these two nations took place during the European Championship qualifiers. Serbia controlled both games and won the most recent match 105-95. We expect the favorites to score a similar number of points in the round of 16.
Serbia is always capable of suffering in big games and is able to deliver its best performances on the court. The silver medalist at the last Olympics in Paris (87-98 in the final against the USA) should win this match even without Bogdan Bogdanovic.
We expect the favorites to deliver their best offensive performance so far, raising their scoring average of 86.8 points with this game. In addition, Pesic’s protégés will benefit from the fact that Finland is no longer playing at home but at the Arena Riga. “Serbia Over 92.5 Points” is currently available at Betano for Serbia vs. Finland odds of 1.75.
Serbia – Finland Head-to-Head Comparison / H2H Record
Nine encounters can be traced back in the history books. In 2008, the Finnish team won the first matchup (80:77). To date, it is their only victory against the Serbian national team, which has since won eight games in a row.
Serbia has won six of nine matchups, scoring at least 92 points in each. In two of the last three encounters, Pesic’s team scored at least 100 points. This leads us to consider applying an odds boost to our target bet.
Serbia – Finland Tip
Nikola Jokic is one of the best players in the world, perhaps even the best professional basketball player of his time. So far in the tournament, the talented center has scored 20.9 points per game. None of his teammates come close to this figure, with Nikola Jovic (11.4) and Filip Petrusev (10.0) each averaging double-digit points.
The squad of the top favorites consists almost exclusively of players who have gained experience in the NBA, have been draft picks, or are currently still actively playing in the world’s strongest basketball league. The host from Finland cannot control their individual quality.
Instead, the hosts could try to showcase their best shooter. Lauri Markkanen is also a strong NBA player who has scored 25.4 points in the current tournament – about a third of the Finnish team’s total points (average 85.2 points per game).
The Serbs’ field goal percentage (52 percent) is significantly higher than that of the Finns (43 percent) and is a good indicator of the efficiency of their shots. We also expect a reaction to their first group defeat at EuroBasket since 2017.
