Yang Yi: Is Serbia really invincible in the 2025 European Cup?

The smoke of the Asian Cup has just disappeared. Later today, the most competitive event in the FIBA ​​world will be launched again: the 42nd European Cup basketball game will start on August 27, and the group stage competition will be held in four different European countries.

If you still remember what kind of audio-visual feast was dedicated to basketball fans in the European Cup three years ago? The stars gathered and the battle was fierce. Many teams' games made people sigh that world basketball has developed to this level. Then three years later, the European Cup is still shining with stars. With Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Doncic as the representatives, three of the top five players in the NBA are now leading their respective national teams to the battlefield, and all other teams are ready. In the latest FIBA ​​rankings, 13 teams in the top 24 European Cup have all ranked among the top 20 in the world, and another basketball feast is about to begin.

But even in this context, the theme of the 2025 European Cup is not the competition for the heroes, but who can resist that team like a big devil.

01. Serbia does not win the championship, which means failure.

The top star among the top and the deepest lineup among the deepest. When Serbia cuts the young defender Nikola Topic, who may be in the rotation in the NBA champion Thunder in the new season, announced their final 12-man roster, the whole of Europe should have made it clear again: this time Serbia is for the championship.

The Balkans have a wealth of talent for ball projects. In recent years, various NBA stars have emerged in countries from the former South. It is even more curious whether the "Yulossa national team" has the ability to beat the US men's basketball team all over the ground if it remains. After all, as the first main force in the former South, the Serbian team alone has suppressed the US team from the 2024 Paris Olympics and the elites have been able to last for three and a half minutes. If Curry had not reappeared the power of the prehistoric world, it is still unknown who will win or lose the game.

Before the bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Serbian team also won the silver medal in the 2023 World Cup, the silver medal in the 2017 European Cup, the silver medal in the 2014 World Championships, the silver medal in the 2009 European Championships and other honors, as the best proof of its long-term strength. But I believe everyone with sharp eyes has also discovered that after the "Yugao Yugoslavia" withdrawal from the historical stage in 2002, this always powerful team has never touched the highest honor of any major competition, whether in the name of Serbia or Serbia.

Therefore, you can imagine what kind of emotions Serbia came to the 2025 European Cup. Looking back at the competitions in the past few years, Heat forward Nikola Jovic missed the Paris Olympics due to injury; Jokic took a leave of absence from the World Cup in 2023 due to excessive fatigue in the playoffs; including the last European Cup three years ago, Serbia also had the absence of the outside core Bogdan. But this time, Serbia finally collected the strongest roster of 12 people, no one was injured, no one took leave, new and old combined, and talents emerged in large numbers. Even the old defender Stefan Jovic, who had previously announced his retirement from the national team, returned to the team under the call of Bogdan. Nikola Jovic, who has been in good warm-up recently, said, "The team's lineup has remained generally stable in the past three or four years, so logically it should be better every year. The team now looks better than the Olympics."

However, head coach Pesic is also well aware of the principle that arrogance will lose, constantly cooling down the team. He hopes that the team's preparations will not be overwhelmed by optimism, including the team's swinger Ognian Dobridge, also mentioned in the interview, "We will not let the outside world predict." The period has become pressure, and everyone knows that the public opinion has regarded us as favorites to win the championship. But it is impossible to win the European Cup. With so many excellent teams, we can only make every game better. "

But no matter how you pretend to be low-key, Serbia has already demonstrated their terrifying strength during the warm-up match, winning 7 games in a tie, including participating in a four-country warm-up match away in Germany, and they also defeated the World Cup champion Germany in the final. No wonder FIBA ​​European Cup official website recently conducted a media survey among European basketball reporters, believing that Serbia will win the championship accounted for as high as 73.1%, while the second-place German team only received a 10% support rate.

For Serbia, the only goal of the 2025 European Cup has been clear, and not winning the championship is failure.

02. Who will stop the invincible warship

Then when Serbia is so powerful, it is equally curious who will play the role of the blocker. In this European Cup, the team second only to Serbia can actually pass the unanimous vote, that is, the German team that won the 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup final and won the world championship in one fell swoop.

Compared with the winning lineup of 2 years ago, the only main player missing from Germany is Moritz Wagner, who suffered serious injuries this season, the older brother of the Wagner brothers, but another team of brothers was added: the Da Silva brothers. The German team's lineup is not uneven, but as mentioned above, in the home warm-up match not long ago, the German team still lost by double-digit score difference without Jokic doing his best; including another top team, the Greek team led by Antetokounmpo, also lost to Serbia by 10 points in the warm-up match.

So looking back three years ago, how did Serbia, who was also regarded as the number one favorite to win the championship, get out? It was in the quarterfinals that I met Italy, who was crazy outside the three-point line. Perhaps both sides played ten more times and Serbia could win ten times, but in front of a team with extremely high offensive upper limit, there would be such an occasional probability. Then, in this European Cup, teams with this trait not only exist, but also occupy the right time, place and people - that is the number one host of this European Cup: Latvia.

There are four host countries for this European Cup, but Poland, Finland and Cyprus only host the group stage competitions. When the knockout round comes, Xiaomi Stadium in Riga, the capital of Latvia, will witness all knockout rounds that will determine life and death in one battle. In view of this, Porzingis, who finally played in this game healthily, was quite emotional, "This may only have one chance in your basketball career, and even in your life, to fight in front of your hometown, especially for a small country like us. So that's why, when we look back, we must make sure that we have put in 100% of our efforts every second we are here." In fact, the Latvia team had already played a shocking performance in the World Cup two years ago. Their style of the game is unrestrained and chic, and the offensive wave is like a vast ocean. As a small country with a total population of less than 2 million, it has always insisted on the tough attitude of not needing to naturalize players, which has won the respect of many fans. But for this 2025 local European Cup, the Latvian men's basketball team finally welcomed Porzingis again in the European Cup after 8 years. What they want is not praise and appreciation, but win. During the

During the warm-up match, Latvia was certainly not as stable as Serbia, and it seemed to have the momentum to defeat the eight deserts and sweep the six-way matches, but Latvia still played many games that suited its own style, and they scored over 100 points several times. No wonder Porzingis would say, "Looking at the sight, we have all the conditions to win. I believe we are capable of doing something big in this competition."

03. Which young people will stand out

Porzingis returns to the European Cup after 8 years. Looking back on his first participation in 2017, it actually proves the European Cup's ability to create stars to a large extent. In the European Cup, many rising stars performed well. For example, Schroeder, 24, won the second place in the scoring list, and Bogdan, 25, led Serbia with a low-health, to the runner-up, but several more stars took off from the European continent and began their brilliant careers.

This includes Porzingis, who averaged 23.6 points per game and ranked third in the scoring list; Markanen, who averaged 19.5 points per game and entered the 180 club; and Luka Doncic, the son of the European Chosen who accompanied Dragic all the way to lead Slovenia to win the European championship at the age of 18. Luca had a year before he was selected by the NBA, but he used his incredible skills and maturity to set the tone for his high ranking in the United States.

So eight years have passed, which newcomers will appear on the stage in the 2025 European Cup?

23-year-old Alperen Shinkin and 24-year-old Danny Avdia are already well-deserved core members of Turkey and Israel. After all, in the just-passed 2024-25 season, they have become the best players of their NBA teams. It is naturally a responsibility to come to the exciting European arena. But what is even more curious is the younger ones in the French team: the No. 1 pick and No. 2 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, Alex Sal and Zachary Rissache.

As the vanguard of the "worst draft year in history", the career performance of these two French compatriots will almost determine the overall evaluation of the entire 2024 draft in the future. Then in this European Cup, the two young people will get completely different opportunities from their NBA rookie season. The withdrawal of Fournier and De Collo has allowed the French team to enter the replacement of old and new, while Gobert, Vinbanyama and others missed this European Cup, and even gave the main stage of the show to the pair of No. 1 picks.

For example, for Rissache, being able to play for the French men's basketball team, the first thing he felt was his mission and inheritance. "My father once played for the national team for 15 years. I have heard too many stories about his games and his growth path. All of this made me proud as a child. So this time it was my turn to make him and the entire family proud."

Rissache and Saar had a foundation for cooperation in the national youth period, and without the bosses in the team, perhaps the two young people could enter. After letting go of his hands and feet, Rissache said, "Maybe any veterans will be different in the team, but after three weeks of training, we have been developing good habits and chemistry, and we still have enough personnel to deal with high-level games. And in the next few years, we will be the team that everyone wants to face the least."

Up to now, whether it is in the NBA career or the performance of this European Cup, Rissache and Saar are still suspected. But a stage like the European Cup may be just right for them to break the doubts.

Then of course, if new players appear, there will be old people leaving. Vucevic will complete his farewell ceremony for the national team and create all the glorious coaches of Spanish basketball in the 21st century. Scarioro will also remove his coach mark after this game. But this is the eternal melody in the basketball world. Since that's the case, we might as well expect that no matter new and veterans, they can play an exciting melody in such a melody.

I hope that the 2025 European Cup will once again be like three years ago, making us amazed at the beauty of basketball.