Early EuroBasket Surprises & Questions

Summary

No Dunks: Early EuroBasket Surprises & Questions

Date: August 29, 2025
Hosts: Tas Melas & Trey Kirby

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Main Theme

This episode dives into the opening rounds of EuroBasket 2025, spotlighting early shocks, standout team and player performances, and raising the big questions for this summer’s flagship European basketball tournament. Tas and Trey deliver their trademark mix of insight, humor, and off-the-cuff banter as they break down major upsets, emerging national heroes, and what the first 12 games reveal about the competitive landscape.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Pace of the Tournament & Opening Impressions

• EuroBasket’s round robin is moving quickly; all teams have played their first game.
• The group phase reveals a wide spread in talent, leading to both blowouts and a few "bangers" (02:09).
• Early standout: seeing NBA and Euro stars in a new light for their national teams.

Quote:
"That's quick, man. They get through this early part of the tournament pretty fast… Playing all the round robin games over the course of a week. Good stuff."
— Tas Melas (00:46)

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2. Biggest Team Surprises & Upsets

Georgia Shocks Spain

• Georgia upset defending champs Spain, led by Sandro Mamukelashvili (“Mamu”) and Goga Bitadze.
• Mamu was the “Luka Doncic of Georgia”; displayed impressive handle and passing.
• Goga nailed back-to-back corner threes and celebrated with the infamous "big balls" dance, fully embraced by the FIBA broadcast and fans (03:10).

Quotes:
"I didn't realize that Sandro Mamu Kalashvili was basically the Luka Doncic of Georgia. This guy breaking down people off the dribble, finding them with passes. I didn't know he had the passing in his bag."
— Trey Kirby (02:09)

"There's no ban on big balls on no dunks and there's no ban on big balls on the FIBA broadcast!"
— Tas Melas (03:10)

Greece Looks Like a Team, Not Just “The Giannis Show”

• Giannis Antetokounmpo dominates, but new supporting cast shows up: Tyler Dorsey, Kostas Sloukas, Papa Nicolao.
• Greece’s offense diversified; more shooters spacing the floor, less predictable than in past tournaments.
• Italians lacked the size/athleticism to contain Giannis (09:31).

Quote:
"Every time I tuned over to the Greece game, Giannis was getting a dunk... Not a lot of beef on the inside for the Italians, unfortunately."
— Tas Melas (09:11)

Turkey Overpowers Latvia

• Turkey’s size and shooting stand out; Alperen Şengün dominates, Cedi Osman flashes “NBA return?” potential.
• Latvia had home-court but was steamrolled as Turkey went 15-25 from three (11:21).
• Porzingis had moments but also got dunked on (“He has air for sure.”, 12:16)

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3. Players Elevating for Their Countries

• Lauri Markkanen (Finland): 28 points, aggressive slashes and dunks; “Looks like himself again.”
• Mika Muranin (Finland): 17-year-old “Slim Jesus” impresses in key moments.
• Luka Doncic (Slovenia): 34 points but not enough help; Poland’s defense doubles him aggressively and Poland pulls the upset (17:03).
  • Poland’s own surprise: Jordan Lloyd (newly naturalized), drops 32 in his debut for Poland.

Quote:
"It's unbelievable that... Jordan Lloyd playing his first game ever for Poland... in front of the home crowd. He got scorching hot. 19 points in the first half for that guy. Talking trash to everybody."
— Trey Kirby (17:37)

• Dennis Schröder (Germany): EuroBasket legend, 21 points as Germany rolls.
• Neemias Queta (Portugal): 23 points, 18 rebounds, 4 blocks.
• Deni Avdija (Israel): “Extremely talented — does it all...great on the ball, off the ball” (23:03).
• Oded Sorkin (Israel): Surprised with outside shooting, not just inside presence.

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4. Germany & Serbia: The Teams to Beat

• Both teams dominate and show the most complete, deep rosters.
• Jokic for Serbia is “toying” with opponents, Germany’s continuity and Schroeder’s leadership noted.

Quote:
"Is anybody going to be able to beat Serbia or Germany besides each other? They seem to have reached The Spain in 2008, Argentina 2004, sort of...our guys are in their prime...they've got the continuity as well."
— Tass Melas (25:03)

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5. The Bronze Medal Race & Other Contenders

• Turkey and France emerge as favorites for bronze, with deep, athletic rosters.
• France’s guard play (Francisco, Okobo) is a question, but their forward depth (Koulibaly, Risacher, Sarr) is immense.
• Shoutouts to other teams possibly in the mix: Spain (despite upset), Israel, Portugal.

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6. Random Notes & Observations

• EuroBasket court design gets high marks: “A whole bunch of dots inside the three-point line. Looks fresh.” (31:46)
• Mascot “Marky Mark” draws laughs (“Can you feel it, feel it?”) and confusion about copyright (34:12).
• Banter about player haircuts: “Three haircuts in Eurobasket — ponytail, bald spot, or a whole bunch of bangs.”
• “Most sweaty player” award to Jusuf Nurkić; visual evidence provided.
• Coaches, execs, and legends in attendance: Doc Rivers, Rob Pelinka, Chauncey Billups, Hedo Turkoglu, Jaromir Jagr.
• In-game advertising: “Yellow bananas — that’s my favorite color of banana.” (35:43)

Quotes:
"If you were going to get a Jordan Lloyd Luca Donja shirt printed during the game, that's amazing."
— Tas Melas (32:18)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [03:10] "There's no ban on big balls on no dunks and there's no ban on big balls on the FIBA broadcast!" — Tas Melas, on Goga Bitadze’s celebration
• [12:18] "Porzingis literally was holding his wrist after I mentioned how he feels fresh." — Trey Kirby
• [14:42] "This guy’s my Jack Harlow." — Trey Kirby on Mika Muranin’s flow
• [17:37] "Jordan Lloyd… talking trash to everybody. Anybody that would listen." — Trey Kirby
• [25:03] "Is anybody going to be able to beat Serbia or Germany besides each other?" — Tass Melas
• [31:46] "I like the look of the floor. It's got a whole bunch of dots inside the three point line. I think the center court logo is pretty good." — Tass Melas
• [35:43] "There was also one ad that just said yellow bananas. That's my favorite color of banana." — Trey Kirby

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Key Timestamps

• 00:56 – Overview of tournament schedule and round robin structure.
• 02:09 – Georgia’s upset win and Mamu & Goga’s star turns.
• 06:43 – Comparing Spain's current roster to its past glory.
• 09:31 – Giannis, Greece, and matchup with Italy.
• 11:21 – Recap: Turkey's dominance over Latvia.
• 13:48 – Standout player performances: Markkanen, Muranin, etc.
• 15:54 – Luka Doncic vs. Poland and Jordan Lloyd’s Polish stardom.
• 20:28 – Germany, Portugal, Israel: other opening night heroes.
• 25:03 – Who can stop Serbia or Germany? State of contenders.
• 28:54 – Questions around France’s guard play.
• 31:26 – Production values, court design, and mascot banter.
• 35:43 – Fun with EuroBasket ads and atmosphere.
• 38:26 – Hairstyles, sweating, and Euro hoops culture.

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Conclusion

EuroBasket 2025 has opened with memorable upsets, new national heroes, and dominant favorites in Germany and Serbia, all wrapped in the tournament’s unique visual and cultural flair. Tas and Trey’s sharp observations and NBA connections add depth for hoopheads and casual fans alike. The next episode will break down the outcome of the round robin, with attention on who advances and who challenges the front runners for medals.

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(End of summary)

Transcript

[Tassos Melas]

Foreign.

[Trey Kirby]

Welcome to no Ducks. We're here for some NBA off season fun. We have some basketball to talk about. So rare. So rare. I'm Tas Melas. But today I'm Tassos Melas because we're going to talk about the Euro basket. With me, it's the man in the middle, Trey Kirby. Just a solo AO back, just me and Trey right now as we get into some Euro basket fun, Skates will join us at a later show maybe for some other Euro basket fun because we'll be back after the round robin is done next Thursday. That's the plan.

[Tassos Melas]

That's quick, man. They get through this early part of the tournament pretty fast, I suppose. Playing all the round robin games over the course of a week. Good stuff.

[Trey Kirby]

Five games, seven days about. Yeah, every team has played one game so far. 12 games. We'll get into what you're sort of what you've seen, Trey. Like impressive teams, players, questions, any random notes. We'll get to those a little bit later. The games haven't been ridiculously great to start, but we've seen so many of the stars already. So that's been fun.

[Tassos Melas]

Exactly right. We got some MVPs playing, you know, we had Luca and Giannis both finished their games to differing results. We've seen Nicola Jokic play. But you're right, the group stage of the tournament, still a big spread in talent from a lot of these teams. So we've seen quite a few blowouts, but a lot of NBA talent and a few bangers for games.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I apologize. I mean, I'm starting it with a bit of a Debbie Downer kind of.

[Tassos Melas]

Tone, but hey, man, this was better basketball today and yesterday than any of the other basketball we've seen from NBA players this summer.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, that's true. And we did get some upset. So let's start from the team side of things before we get to the individual stars. What's been the most impressive team you've seen so far?

[Tassos Melas]

Okay, I don't know if this is the most impressive team, as in they're going to win the EuroBasket tournament, but the most impressed I've been by a team team is Georgia today pulling the upset against Espana. Mamu Teleshvili and Gogo Bataze taking over. These guys were awesome tasks. I didn't realize that Sandro Mamu Kalashvili was basically the Luka Doncic of Georgia. This guy breaking down people off the dribble, finding them with passes. I didn't know he had the passing in his bag. He Had a massive right handed layup late in this game to put things away and then Go Go was hilarious. Making a corner three pointer from the right hand side of the court. A couple of plays later they find him in the left hand corner, he knocks down another three and then hits the straight up big ball dance in Euro basket. And here's the great thing about.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh yeah, we're, we're, we're giving you the big balls right here on YouTube. If you're watching with us right now. He pulled it out.

[Tassos Melas]

That's right, we have, we're going to show you the big balls here. There's no ban on big balls on no dunks and there's no ban on big balls on the FIBA broadcast because they ran it back and you could hear the announcer say, you can describe that one at home. But then at home their Twitter account, which is awesome, posts it celebrating the big balls dance from Goga. There much different response than you get from the NBA. So I love to see the personality. This was such a good game too. And look, I don't really understand the ins and outs of the FIBA rankings, but I think it was an upset and it was really fun to watch. And honestly, Goga and Mamu going back and forth together was unbelievable to see these guys be elevated from a FIBA perspective. I'm ready to put them up there with Dennis Schroeder, with Evan Fornier, with Boyan and Bogdan Bogdanovich, guys who just go to another level on their national teams. These guys look like Pippen and I don't know Jokic out there for the team. Awesome stuff from Goga and Mamu, no doubt.

[Trey Kirby]

This was an upset. Spain is the reigning EuroBasket champion from 2022. They are not one of the favorites in this tournament, but to see Sandru Mamish Klishvili do what he did in those final minutes. The great thing about Eurobasket is you get the audio going for these coaches and the co. The Georgian coach is pretty simple, dude. He's, he's a man of few words. A few of them are Pastumamu, Pastumamu. Simple as that. Because literally Mamu taking dribble handoffs from the top and he's just playing smart now. He's more of a beeline, straight line type of driver, there's no doubt about that. He, he, you know, he did his thing with the spurs last year. F. Flave was there for his monstrous game that he had with the spurs and he'll be with the Raptors as a backup center this year. And you can see why he makes sense when those guys make the extra passes. Whether it's Brandon Ingram or Scotty Barnes or whoever, he's there to bang home threes. He can do that. And he's decent with the dribble handoffs. You mentioned the drives he had in key moments. So yeah, they're overperforming here and they did it against Spain. So it's a fun, really fun start for this Georgian team. Absolutely a delay. It was a little disappointing on the other side not to see Al Dharma ball. I mean, he came out and performed at some times, but yeah, I want to see a little bit more aggressiveness Aldama, because he is their number one scorer now and that's why this team isn't likely to medal. But they still have talent and it was just a little, little disappointing not to see him ball out.

[Tassos Melas]

Yeah, Alama didn't do much. I actually thought that Spain was playing their best. Early in the fourth quarter, they went on a little bit of a run with Juancho hair flying out like a lion's mane. Apparently this guy has highlights now all over the place making plays. They pulled him out and that's instantly when Georgia went on their run. Willie Hernandez, Gomez, I looked it up. Dude was first team all rookie in the NBA in 2017, less than 10 years ago, and now he's out of the league. And watching the way some of these rebounds were going to go go, the wide open shots he was getting, I was like, oh, I get it now. He just moves a lot slower. This Spain team ain't the old Spain team. They don't have the perimeter talent. And their set of brothers, the Hernandez.

[Trey Kirby]

Gomez's, they're not the Gasols, no doubt about that. I'll move on to another team, which was impressive in very much the definition of what a team is. The Greeks, obviously it's Giannis and that's definitely the most important thing. But they got performances from so many guys. We watched this team in the Olympics last year and they were so desperate for a secondary player just to do anything out there. And this time it was way different. Now they're starting a different backord. I think that really helps. Instead of Nick Kalathis and Thomas walk up, they're playing Tyler Dorsey and Costa slukas, an old 35 year old. And those guys were just efficient at hitting shots. They had so many helpers and it wasn't like Dorsey or Slukas even hit double digits. They had nobody hit double digits beside Giannis, but there was just so many guys. Papa Nicolao, Salucas, Toiopolos. We had a Thanasi Santa Kounmpo dribble three pointer with a few minutes left. There's so many guys to work around. Giannis, who was an absolute machine last year when they were in the Olympics, he was a monster. Unfortunately, they went one and two in this one. You can see that they could be better. Giannis was himself. I mean, his first basket within the first two minutes was, there's two guys around him and he could have passed this somebody. He said, now I'll just, I'll just use my legs to be able to pounce around these guys and dunk. It got on the break. Gallinari was guarding him at some point. Danilo Gallinari, he might be the Puerto Rican MVP because he won the MVP in the Puerto Rican league this summer, but he's. He's too old to guard Giannis. And I think the Italians were a little, A little too old in general, other than who's the young guy that they had? The Senegale slash Italian player. He. He was awes, but they're a little too old. Even though Nico Melli was balling again, they just needed some guys. They had seven threes overall. It wasn't like they were taking a ton of threes. But Giannis was efficient himself. Didn't shoot a 3.31points for him, 14 of 20 for him. So it was nice to see them play the way they should play. They were giving Giannis space within the arc because they were threatening from three point land, unlike what they had last year.

[Tassos Melas]

I was mostly watching Luka vs Poland during this one. Unfortunately, they were going head to head. But every time I tuned over to the Greece game, Giannis was getting a dunk. And then I heard the broadcaster say, oh, play into his strengths today. And that certainly seemed like what was going down. Not a lot of beef on the inside for the Italians, unfortunately.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, no, they. They were. They were lacking. He could do it against whoever he wants. Saloon Yang is the guy I was thinking of from Italy, but otherwise, yeah, they're. They're literally too small. He was. I mean, Mellie was actually balling for that team, but they just, they don't have size. That is totally true. They tried to front him at times. That didn't work. I like the Greeks changing to Costas. Atetokounmpo. There's three atetokounmpos on this team that were playing. They switched to Costa starting in the second half to get some. Some more athleticism around. Giannis, but that team just reacted well. Dorsey went from starter to bench to playing really well coming off the bench in that second half, so they really, really played well. Any other teams you want to mention before we get to more players? I mean, you do want. Do you want to talk about Luca and the loss here?

[Tassos Melas]

We'll get to Luca because he was definitely impressive. But as we're talking teams, I thought Turkey looked awesome in their win over Latvia. I was maybe expecting a little bit more from the Latvians. The crowd was certainly hyped. But Turkey, if we're talking about teams that look small, it ain't Turkey. They look like the biggest team out there, maybe alongside Serbia, But Sengun was incredible. Chetty Osmond was giving me sort of like Gershon Yabuzeli vibes. A guy who was in the NBA, he has to go away for a while, but then you see him in an international competition, you're like, wait a second here. Chetty Osmond's hooping. Can he come back? He shot 39% from three in 2024. And if he's a shooter and still a decent slasher, maybe he can play. I know they're kind of like, in the mix for the Eurobasket Championship, but an outside shot. But I was certainly impressed by the way they played because they destroyed Latvia, and I thought that these were two teams that were kind of near each other, talent wise. But Sengun definitely looked like the All Star out there rather than Porzingis.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, you're totally right. These are two teams that could medal. They're not the favorites. That belongs to Germany, of course, along with Serbia, of course. But these two could be the. The bronze medalist, and I think we'll make some. I. I feel like the Turkey stole that right to be the bronze medalist from Latvia. We'll get to that a little bit later. Just random things that, you know, we. We have decided have changed. I think that Turkey went and stole it from Latvia because I was looking forward to Christoph Sporzingis, seeing what he looked like. He's been talking about how fresh he feels, and he did, you know, some things out there. The deflection on D came in and used a thunderous bang in the post to get some space, but he turned on. He got dunked on. That was mean. Sheamus has air. What a freaking dunk.

[Tassos Melas]

And he has air for sure.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, has air. And Porzingis literally was holding his wrist after I mentioned how he feels fresh. But he was checking his wrist because Hazard gave it to him, stared him down after. So not a great start. But yeah, from Turkey now maybe they just got super duper hot. They shot 60% from 3. 15 of 25. A ridiculous percentage from 3. You mentioned jetty Osman, Kanan Sapahi, and then the Turkish Shane Larin who used to be in the NBA. I mean he was going to that crossover and, and raisin into that three point shot, he got past Porzingis and shot over him. So this may have been a perfect night and I may be wrong that this team's going to win the, the bronze medal, but yeah, they looked ridiculously great in Latvia where they're playing Latvia, having their this, this home opener for them as that group plays their games in Latvia. That was a stolen game by Turkey, so let's move on.

[Tassos Melas]

Definitely a fun game. Also love the Shen Goon dish. Had one behind his head going down the lane. I forgot drops it off too.

[Trey Kirby]

But yeah, looks beautiful.

[Tassos Melas]

And I do got to give a big shout out to my guy Zagars from Latvia. Nice moment. He scored like 11 straight there in the second half. I like to see that guy cooking wearing 55 like white chocolate himself.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah, that guy can shoot the three. No doubt. All right, so let's get to this. Individual players who really impressed you after one game so far for every team in Eurobasket.

[Tassos Melas]

Shout out. Lowry, Markkanen. Awesome game from him. 28 points against Sweden. It feels like he's getting most of these on dunks and every time he catches the ball he has a head of steam. I know that's something Will Hardy ripped off for the Jazz, but it happens even more playing for the Finnish team. That being said, the guy that I love on their team, Mika Murin, and they call him Slim. Jesus, Tas, this guy is born in 2007. I mean, he looks like he was born in 2007. He's still in high school, bro. This guy's a five star recruit, but he's playing in the fourth quarter of EuroBasket. I think he only had five points, but they were five important points. He's got his hair flopping all crazy. The Finnish Matas Bou zealous, if you're asking me. I don't know. I'm ready to buy into the hype in this guy when he finally comes to the NBA two years from now. I'll over hype him from now until then. Mika Muranin. Love this guy.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he's my Jack Harlow. I feel like that hair is flowing. No doubt. Yeah. And yeah, Lowry was awesome. People were calling me out because I, you know, put a little video together of the guys I'm looking forward to in Euro Baskin. I didn't talk about Lowry. Listen, he's coming off a bad season in the NBA. Is he going to be himself again? Well, yeah, he looks like it. Coming into this tournament. He looked like it. Those curls that he runs, not on his hair, but that he runs the curl cuts like you mentioned, that he does with Will Hardy in Utah. He's running them whether it's from the corner into the lane or getting dribble handoffs up top. And that huge jam that he had coming down, he looks. He looks awesome. He had a steal, too. So, yes. See what. What they can do. Obviously, they're playing at home in this game against Sweden, which was. Which was fun, all those games going to be in Finland. So, yeah, great start.

[Tassos Melas]

Well, let's.

[Trey Kirby]

Let's get to another guy. Do you want to talk Luca here? Because he was good, but, you know, they didn't get the job done.

[Tassos Melas]

He's got to carry that team pretty hard. It looks like 34 points Luka ended up with. I think he had 17 in the first quarter. And he's the rare guy that actually gets an NBA whistle in FIBA games. I think he took seven free throws in the first quarter. Maybe ended up with like 15 or 16 by the end of the game. Unreal to see that in a FIBA game. But they're all over him defensively. Poland, they were completely locked in. They say, we take away Luka, we're going to win this game. They didn't even really take him away, but they held him under 40. And you heard on the broadcast throughout the game, Luka's got to score 40 or more for this team to win. They gave up close to 100 points in the loss.

[Trey Kirby]

So it just looks like 105 in the end.

[Tassos Melas]

There we go, 105. Not great, but not surprising considering Slovenia does look like a Miami Dolphins team. The white and the turquoise. An unusual look for some pretty sedate uniforms usually, I would say, at Euro basket. But Luka, I thought looked good. He was playing defense. He was hitting his step back. Three threes, but just not enough with the some of the NBA talent around him missing for the Slovenian team.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he's asked to do a lot. There's no doubt they were doubling him hard in Poland. Again, a home team, a home game for them. They were ready to play. They were ready to pounce defensively, while Slovenia just sort of wasn't. And the Polish team, it Literally has zero NBA talent. They literally.

[Tassos Melas]

How dare you say that When Toronto Raptors NBA champion Jordan Lloyd is carrying this team. He was on fire.

[Trey Kirby]

He was ridiculous. It's unbelievable that. Yeah, Jordan Lloyd playing his first game ever for Poland. He's never played in Poland. He's never played for a Polish team. He's played abroad for several years. But in February he got a Polish passport and he just got naturalized as a Polish citizen just now in August. And he's playing his first game and he comes out and he's rocking the show in front of the home crowd. He got scorching hot. 19 points in the first half for that guy. Talking trash to everybody. Anybody that would listen. And then he had 13 in the second half. 32 points overall. This was just a special night. Shooting the ball for the entire Polish team. It felt like Ponica. He was splashing threes. He hit a few threes. Pluta splashing threes. I mean, they had 14 threes. To have 100 points, 105 overall in a 40 minute game. Doesn't happen a lot. We've won. Now watch 12 games. Only two teams have reached 100 points, Poland and Germany. A lot of it was just them being super duper hot. There's no doubt about that. They're playing in front of a home crowd. They were scorching hot. But to see Jordan Lloyd do that, yeah, he was. He's a Toronto legend. His only time in the NBA was literally that little run he got into the playoffs where he was that random guy in a suit beside Kawhi Leonard after the bounce, bounce, bounce shot. And then he pretended to be Steph Curry. And all the practices in the NBA finals, that's what he did. And now he's gone abroad. Abroad. He's a local Georgia boy. We got to get him on the show at some point when he comes back. But this is. This is cool. Yeah, we're happy we're getting him on. It was just an odd situation because you got Luke on one team, you don't have an NBA player on the other side. Jeremy Sohan hurt his. I don't know, it was a calf, I think recently, so he's not even playing there. So. Know Luca was good, but he wasn't. He wasn't excellent. He shot a ton of free throws, as you said. They were doubling him, getting the ball out of his hands. He shot 18 free throws. He also banked home a three. I'm not sure if he did it on purpose. I still can't decide. I mean, he Looked. It was a classic European look after he hit the three. Like, I. I don't know what. What it means. It was a. Yeah, maybe I hit that on purpose or maybe I didn't, or maybe that's my new shot, or maybe I'll never shoot it again. I still. I still don't know if he banked that thing home or not. But, yeah, he did not get enough help. There's no doubt about that. There's just a lot of clanking going on besides him. It was a 105. 95 game, so it went down to the wire, but he needed more help, both offensively and defensively.

[Tassos Melas]

Yeah. Fun to watch. Few more guys to sprinkle. Some love to. Dennis Schroeder, of course, was awesome, because this is a feature but tournament. He had 21 points as Germany beat Montenegro. Obst. Andreas Ops. I hate this guy. He never misses a shot. He killed the US Once upon a time, and it just feels like he's going to catch fire at any time. I think he had four threes in the third quarter of their win, which is really when they started blowing it out. Even though Vuch played a pretty decent game, they turned V mode off. And the other guy, Namish Keita, if you're a Celtics fan, you got to be thrilled. 23 points, 18 boards, four blocks. That's your starting center, Celtics fans. But look, he's dominating out there. I don't think Portugal was probably picked to win their first game. That was a minor upset over Chechia, I believe, but he looked awesome. He looked like the best athlete on the front court out there.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Respect for the. The pronunciations of Chechia, and respect to Namish keita, no doubt. 23 points, 18 boards, four blocks, two steals. He was affecting a lot of shots in that game, even though they didn't go down his blocks. He was. He was bringing it. Yeah, I. I threw it out there. Maybe Boston let Porzingis go, let Horford go, because they want this guy to play. I mean, he's. He's pretty good.

[Tassos Melas]

It's Keita time.

[Trey Kirby]

It's. It's K the time. Yeah. Euromir Jaeger was there in Latvia supporting Chechia, but they couldn't get the W. They have.

[Tassos Melas]

They were talking about Yarmouth Yagur on that broadcast. They were talking back and forth, whoever the two. The two guys were, and one of them was like, what number did yarmier Jagger Wear? 66. Nope. 68. That was Mario Lemieux. But then they just chatted about the Penguins for a little bit.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, did they?

[Tassos Melas]

Yeah, they're tough, man.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. I will say Schroeder as they pronounce it in these broadcasts. It's got to have a floater next year that the Kings. Kings roll with a Schroeder floater. I mean, the Kings aren't making the playoffs. They need other things to. To cheer about. The Schroeder floater's got to be a thing. That's all I got to say.

[Tassos Melas]

I don't mind it. But I'll tell you what. I'm fighting for my life out there. Hearing these FIBA broadcasters, I feel like I've been saying every name wrong the entirety of the show. Yeah, we got Alfred and Shenan. Now they're just calling Senan Schroeder. I thought we were like, doing our best, looking at the NBA pronunciation guys, and only to get to the international competition. They're wrong.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they're wrong for.

[Tassos Melas]

They're wrong on the world stage. Yeah, you're right. We're right.

[Trey Kirby]

It's a sher. There's no doubt about it. I will give some love to Denny Abdia because he was really, really solid. That dude. I think he's. He's underrated as far as being a defender goes because he played in freaking Washington for four years and then he went to Portland where he was, you know, kind of under the radar. That guy is great on the ball, off the ball. He's helping block and he's staying in front of guys on fast breaks and blocking shots. He does it all and he can score and put it on the floor and he set it up for a sork in alley oop. That guy is just extremely, extremely talented. So I've got to mention him as well. Any other guys you want to mention or should we get to our next?

[Tassos Melas]

Only because I just heard his name. But Sorkin had an amazing game and it was weird to me because in the first half he hit a baseline jumper from 15ft, which is not a shot. You say a big guy take very much anymore these days. He made it and celebrated like it was the first jump shot he's ever made in his career. Then in the second half, he made like three or four three pointers like it was no problem. So was he just fooling on that baseline jump or do you think like, haha, look at that weird shot I took.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, that other team didn't scale for him. And then he's like, yeah, I can hit that shot, dude.

[Tassos Melas]

I got it tonight.

[Trey Kirby]

Fooled it. Yeah. Yeah. And shout out to Franz Wagner as well, Germany, that other team along with Serbia that should be in the finals. We'll definitely be around to talk about the quarterfinals and the semifinals later on and whether it's Serbia and Germany or whoever. It feels like those two teams are destined for a medal. And Franz's footwork just looks spectacular out there. That guy's. That guy is so solid when he puts the ball on the floor. So shout out to him. But that's all my individuals I want to mention. Do you want to get to the biggest question you got after one game, Trey? What do you got?

[Tassos Melas]

Yeah, you sort of touched on it. But is anybody going to be able to beat Serbia or Germany besides each other? They seem to have reached The Spain in 2008, Argentina 2004, sort of. We have the perfect amount of talent. Plus our guys are in their prime. Plus we've actually been playing together in some major tournaments for a while, so they've got the continuity as well. Both of these teams just completely destroyed their opponents now. Part of that is because of the seating of things. They're playing the worst opponent right away. But I thought Serbia was completely rolling. Like Jokic was messing around out there. That pass he threw to the corner that everybody was sharing on the Internet where he spins twice and just throws a no looker to the corner kind of just for fun. It was like, we're going to win this game by 30 points, so let's get some highlights. Going to the point where another Nikola Jovic had the best game game for Serbia. They looked like a well oiled machine. And then Germany always does. I think they always show up for their games. We talked about Schroeder and Ops already. These two I know are the favorites and they really looked like it in their first game.

[Trey Kirby]

Totally. And that leads to my question of who's going to win the bronze. It feels like those two teams should be in the finals, but I think there's a few teams joining the the bronze medal crew. We talked about Turkey and them beating Lafayette. I think Turkey definitely should be the, the favorite, I suppose for the bronze medal. But France is right there as well and I'm not sure they have the top end talent that they need without Wemby in this tournament, without Gobert in this tournament. But they have just so many guys that they throw out there. You mentioned Gershon Yabuzeli who I think is going to play a ton next year for Mike Brown with the Knicks just because he, he shows up and he plays and he plays hard and he was doing that For France today, Bilal Cool Abali, I think he's growing. I mean, he, he literally could be physically growing, but he's also growing as a player. Like, he looks, he looks, you know, slender, but you could see the athleticism on so many things he does because he plays properly in this French team because there's so many guys, so many moving parts. And so when the ball gets swung to him, he's, he's always moving, he's slashing, he drives, he hangs in the air. He's on a fast break. He takes bumps and can finish. He had two blocks and one possession. So that guy gets after it. And then Zachary Reese Sachet, another guy coming off the bench just doing his part. There's just so many guys on this team that play their role and whether it's France or Turkey, I don't know. But the French team is so good. They're so deep. They're like 10 deep. Zachary, Sasha, we mentioned the. The Turkish dunk recesses wasn't as huge, but it was a bit of a poster dunk. On Kevin Toomba rise Ashe beat him like a tumba drum. We have baseline cut. Dang, he's good. He's good on the baseline cuts when he play. I'm already looking forward to the NBA season. I can't help it. But when he's playing with Tre Young and Jalen Johnson and even a Chris Saps Porzingis, he's going to make those baseline cuts and he's good at getting out to the three point shot. So he's, he's, he's running out there to the corner, throwing it up. It's quick release. He's, he's got it, man. So I believe in the growth of recession. Yeah. Whether or not it's France or Turkey, it'll be fun as we get closer. But it is 24 teams we're talking here. There's too many.

[Tassos Melas]

A lot of teams. Yeah, there's a lot of teams still going on right now. But if we're talking about big questions, I'm with Roberto Aguilar who says what is a tumba drum?

[Trey Kirby]

It's a, it's an African drum.

[Tassos Melas]

Okay. That's all I know where of this drum. But yeah, I thought France looked super athletic compared to Belgium. The question to me is, are their guards going to be good enough? I think it's Francisco and Ellie Acobo. Ellie Acobo had a coffee in the NBA, but Francisco, I don't think so. But they do have a lot of depth at the 3, 4, 5 position to the point where Risache and Sar are coming off the bench. They actually look to have a little bit of a connection together, which I thought was. Was pretty cool. Reisha Shay, they said he grew and he looks a little bit taller and a little bit broader to me. I mean, he's young enough that he still has some growth left in his body, but I thought they were impressive. I would like to see them play against a real team because it looked like easy enough for the guard to beat whoever off the dribble from Belgium. Then they would pitch it out to Koulibaly and they were just trying to catch up to Koulibaly and guess what? He was already at the rim.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Are you being sold by the off season workouts of Zachary Rhys Sachet? And close up, close up of the bicep as he's curling. It looks good.

[Tassos Melas]

That bicep was looking nice, man. If we're going to give Luka Doncic credit for being on the COVID of Men's Health magazine, we should give Zach Re Sachet some credit for flexing and oiling up his guns down at the Hawks training facility. I think he looked awesome. And if we're talking about another question, there was an incredible question asked by a broadcaster in this game who just asked the play by play announcer, do you ever Wish you were 7ft tall like Alexander Saar or no? Yeah, he was like, nah, no, I don't. I wish I was as tall as Francisco, who was the smallest guy on the court. So I don't know how little this play by play guy is, but that was. Had me rolling there for a second.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, that was very, very funny. And shout out to this comment here from the no dunks chat here. It's on a tumba, the Arnold Schwarzenegger quote. Because I literally. I bring that up because. Not because I want to bring it up, but I was literally outside a restaurant called Altoona yesterday and I made that Arnold Schwarzenegger joke. I said, it's not Altuna. Anyway, cool story, bro. Okay, yeah. Let's move on to the any. Any other random notes and observations, reservations you got through. Cool story, bro.

[Tassos Melas]

I forgot we had drops loaded here in the yard. Welcome back to the Drops. You never know what's gonna happen during a Euro basket show. Random notes.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, random notes. I know you. We've had a bunch of random notes.

[Tassos Melas]

Oh, the boys have been noting with the boys. What do you think of the look? Just the general look of the Eurobasket tournament. I like the look. Of the floor. It's got a whole bunch of dots inside the three point line. I think the center court logo is pretty good. I don't know what you think.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah, I'm with you. I feel right. I feel great. I'm. The production's always so good as well, so I don't know. I think I lump it all together. I'm just. I'm watching for all these slow mo's of fans reactions. There was a great T shirt from a fan. Literally. It was a Doncic versus Jordan Lloyd T shirt.

[Tassos Melas]

No, no, that's got to be. That's got to be Sohan.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, it is Sohan.

[Tassos Melas]

Got to be so hand in the picture.

[Trey Kirby]

You're right. You're so. No way.

[Tassos Melas]

I mean, look, Breaking tea gets our T shirts out fast, but if you were going to get a Jordan Lloyd Luca Donja shirt printed during the game, that's amazing.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, I was sold on it because Jordan Lloyd was. They showed a package of Jordan Lloyd hitting a bunch of shots, and they showed a bunch of fans wearing T shirts. I thought it was. I thought it was Luca. Jordan Lloyd. So I'm buying one. I'm buying a Jordan Lloyd Luca shirt.

[Tassos Melas]

That'S coming for game two for sure.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Tassos Melas]

Where were you when they went head to head?

[Trey Kirby]

Do you like the look of everything? Yeah, it's. It's all solid.

[Tassos Melas]

Yeah, I think so. It doesn't look, like, weird to me or boring in any way. It kind of looks fresh. I thought the look of the dots on the inside of the arc actually pretty cool. I don't mind it at all. As for the mascot, its name is Marky Mark because the slogan for the whole tournament is like, make your mark. So the mascot, therefore, is Marky Mark. And I just got to know tasks. Are you picking up good vibrations? Can you feel it? Feel it?

[Trey Kirby]

What is that thing?

[Tassos Melas]

What is that thing? It's a bun. It's a bunny. I think it's a Pokemon style bunny.

[Trey Kirby]

No, I guess.

[Tassos Melas]

I don't know. He's got a molten ball. But Marky Mark. What a name.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I'm not sold. You know, I. I did see the hashtag make your mark, and I'm wondering, are people using this hashtag or are people just going with the hashtag Euro Baskin? I don't. I put it out. I. I checked. I think there's two people that have made their mark with the hashtag make your mark. That's about it.

[Tassos Melas]

That's. It hasn't made its mark yet.

[Trey Kirby]

I don't know, maybe they got a. Maybe they have to pay X to get their tweets boosted, but it ain't working so far.

[Tassos Melas]

I mean, a fair point by Casey Supersonic here in the Stream team. Is the name Marky Mark not copyrighted? Did Wahlberg drop the ball on this one? I know he wouldn't make the same mistake with Wahlburgers when it came around.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, you're the only one who said Marky Mark. I mean, it's called make your mark.

[Tassos Melas]

No, but the name of the mascot is Marky Mark. It's really. That's really the name. I didn't give it. That does sound like what I would call it, but it's really the name. Feba chose it.

[Trey Kirby]

Cool. Marky Mark. Yeah, no, I don't think that one's sticking. I just. I. I do want to share because I'm sure there's some NBA fans that are following along. I do want to share every coach or executive that I've seen at any of these 12 games. Doc Rivers is there watching Giannis, and the broadcaster said that Darvin Ham, the Bucks assistant coach, is also there. Didn't see him on camera, but apparently they're there. Rob Polanca, Jenny Buss and Kurt Rambis are watching Luka Doncic. Chauncey Billups is in Poland watching Denny Abdia. They're all taking it in. And I mentioned Jeremy Jaeger. He has nothing to do with the NBA, but he's also there, apparently.

[Tassos Melas]

Hido Turkaloo. I saw Hido.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, he was there.

[Tassos Melas]

It was at Turkey.

[Trey Kirby]

Turkey, yes.

[Tassos Melas]

Yep.

[Trey Kirby]

Turkey. A Czechia. That's all the pronunciations I got for.

[Tassos Melas]

We're learning. I also like. I mean, just seeing the advertisements is pretty funny. One of them, of course, is for Giannis the Greek, the Freak 7 from Nike. Cool. But there was also one ad that just said yellow bananas. That's my favorite color of banana. They're saying don't. Don't buy them before they're ripe or as they're ripening. That's right. Yeah. One more. One more round of yellow bananas for me and the boys, please.

[Trey Kirby]

Last couple notes here. I do want to mention Bosnia took care of Cyprus. This is Cyprus's first ever Euro basket. They're hosting a game. They kind of made it close, so respect to them. But Yousef Nurkic was the thing that I noticed the most. That guy sweats so much. Now we're showing it to you on YouTube. It looks fairly sweaty. I don't think my screen grab does it justice, really. Maybe I downgraded. After I screen grabbed, I downgraded the photo pixelation because, man, that guy sweats so much. And maybe it's because the Bosnian head coach two weeks ago said, quote, he's out of shape and can barely run. And it looks like to me that he got in shape and ready to play. And he's super sweaty because he kind of looks skinny. And maybe he'll play for the Utah Jazz this year, or maybe not. Who knows? But he is on their roster. Just wanted to say that that guy leads the Euro basket in sweat drops per minute. I mean, he is sweating so much, at any time, they're going to have.

[Tassos Melas]

A sweaty front court, because I feel like Markkanen, he gets pretty wet as well. So between the two of them, they've got their hair full flopping all around. That's how you can tell when these guys are working really hard out there. Because in that photo, Nurkic has Doncic bangs. Like, when Lucas played two quarters of a game, his, like, hair's flopping over into his face. It looks all wet. That's what Nurkic had going on, too. And I think that's a common look in Eurobasket because it feels like there are three haircuts in Eurobasket. Ponytail, bald spot, or a whole bunch of bangs in the front of your head.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. And there he is again.

[Tassos Melas]

Look, man, that's crazy. It's like. It's like playing in a baseball hat facing forward. But if you're 23 and under, that's what your hair is going to look like right now.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's some tight haircuts going on so far in Euro basket. I mean, tight on the sides and then just letting the top flow. Goga slim. Jesus.

[Tassos Melas]

Jesus. I love it. I love it. Yeah, but you. You're never gonna see more bald spots than in a Eurobasket tournament. Because a lot of these guys, you know, hang around later into their careers, and if they don't go Scola mode, which a few guys are, you know, handsomely gray. You got a spot back there, and it's shining.

[Trey Kirby]

No doubt. I saw a bald guy dunk a basketball, and I thought, whoa, you don't see that too often in Euro basket. That happens a lot. It does. I think that's it for our random notes. Touched on a ton. That's everything for our show today. Just a reminder, everybody, that we've got our Jurassic Pals keeps on going. We keep pumping them out. Jurassic World is happening tomorrow on Friday, August 29th. We're finally into the Jurassic World. Chris Pratt in da house.

[Tassos Melas]

He rides a motorcycle. I mean, spoiler alert. He rides a motorcycle with a pack of Raptors. When it happens, you're like, yeah, finally, he's riding the motorcycle with the Raptors. Set it up so perfectly.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes. We're finally into the the Jurassic World sequence of. Of Jurassic Pals number four. As we pop one of these out per week, we'll be back here to talk about Eurobasket next Thursday, September 4, after the round robin is complete and the four divisions advance four teams per division. So we'll get into the round of 16. That should be. Should be a competitive 16 teams that are still alive after this 24 team first round where everybody's getting a feel. Getting a feel and taking care of business. But that's it for us. We'll see you tomorrow. Jurassic World. Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.

[Tassos Melas]

Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And I'm seeing here that Micah Parsons is going to the Green Bay Packers. That sucks. That really sucks.