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Dennis Schroder led Germany to a 96-94 overtime victory over previously unbeaten Poland in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Qualifiers. The NBA guard finished with a team-high 18 points and five assists, including the two free throws that settled the contest. Johannes Thiemann added 14 points and 12 rebounds, Maodo Lo scored 13, and Isaac Bonga contributed 10 points and five steals.
The Greek National Team will line up with significant absences, but also significant presences, in the two games against Ukraine and Spain, as part of the second qualifying phase for MundoBasket 2027 , after the two heavy defeats it suffered in July against Romania and Poland. In fact, Vassilis Spanoulis will not have Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kostas Sloukas at his disposal, who played a key role in winning the bronze medal at EuroBasket 2025. The Greek Freak has been playing basketball since March 15th, and therefore his new team, the Miami Heat, has not given its consent for him to participate in the upcoming games, fearing a possible injury.
Last year the power forward missed EuroBasket due to injury, but the Polish-American has his sights set on playing in the World Cup qualifying windows this summer. “Do I plan to play with the national team in the summer? Definitely. I think if I have the opportunity and it makes sense for me, I always want to represent Poland. We just had qualifiers, so congratulations to the team for two great wins against Latvia , which was a really strong team,” Sochan told MD on Tuesday in Toronto before the Knicks’ 111-95 victory over the Raptors. “In general, I have always, always wanted to represent Poland,” added the 22-year-old forward , who won the European Under-16 Division B Championship with his national team in 2019 and participated in the qualifying phase for the 2024 Olympic Games.
Jeremy Sochan said he wanted to recruit the young Warriors star for Poland and insisted on the idea. “Do I see him playing for Poland? Yes, I mean, we haven’t really talked about it recently, but I think he would be a great addition. He’s a very talented young guy, and that would add more firepower to our team and make it stronger overall. It would be a super exciting and cool thing to do,” the Knicks’ newest addition emphasized after his departure from the Spurs. “The times we spoke, he (Podziemski) was always interested, enthusiastic about it. You never know, we’ll see,” Sochan added.
Jeremy Sochan on why he plays for Poland and not the UK: I'm going to be honest. I was playing for both teams. I went to Copenhagen I think with England, had a great tournament. At the same time I was playing for Poland. I had a good tournament there. You got to balance it out. And I looked at both options and we got to be honest, at the time I had way more opportunities with Poland whether it was games, training camps, testing, just exposure level to other European clubs, countries… It was on a different level at the time. It's a shame again if they were the same opportunities, what would I pick? I'm not sure. I can't tell you that. With Poland all the camps were free, the flights were free, whereas with England, it’s a struggle.
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Jeanie Buss, Rob Pelinka, Kurt and Linda Rambis and Dr. Leroy Sims, the team’s director of player performance and health, all flew to Poland to witness the reboot first-hand. “He just looked comfortable,” Buss told The Athletic. “His focus was on basketball instead of something else being in the back of mind. He’s less burdened; he’s got clarity. …He knows where he wants to be. He knows where he is now.”
Poland's EuroBasket star Mateusz Ponitka revealed that he received an NBA contract in the past. In an interview with Zurnalista.pl, Ponitka said that back in 2016, when he was playing for Zielona Gora in Poland, he received a contract offer from the Denver Nuggets, but eventually decided to stay in Poland.
“I have really good teammates; they’re the ones who tell me,” Sengun said. “I didn’t start by scoring; they really helped me. I just kept finding my teammates. At some point, they were telling me, ‘Get one more rebound.’ I’m happy that we won the game. The triple-double doesn’t mean much right now.”
Türkiye superstar Alperen Sengun made another statement in his magical FIBA EuroBasket 2025 campaign by becoming the youngest player to register a triple-double in the competition's history. The 23-year-old center scored 19 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out 10 assists in helping Türkiye defeat Poland 91-77 in the Quarter-Finals - become the fifth player with a EuroBasket triple-double.
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Marc Stein: The @EuroBasket quarterfinals are set: Lithuania v Greece Türkiye v Poland Germany v Slovenia Finland v Georgia More NBA from me: https://tinyurl.com/3uasyd2p
France took their third win in Group D at EuroBasket 2025, defeating previously unbeaten Poland 83-76. New York Knicks newcomer Guerschon Yabusele put on a show in a crucial win for France, scoring a national team career-high 36 points (12/20 FG, 6/12 3PT), while adding 6 rebounds and 2 blocks to his tally.
We're accustomed to seeing Doncic score 30+ points in international play, but this year, an unusual detail is catching attention in Katowice, Poland: Luka appears to be the only player at EuroBasket 2025 with a personal bodyguard. The muscular guard shadows him everywhere—walking alongside Doncic from the tunnel to the locker room on game days, standing next to him during mixed-zone interviews, and even keeping watch during open practice sessions or pre-game shootarounds.