Lower than a minute into Portugal’s opening sport towards the Neemias Queta squared up for a top-of-the-key three-pointer.
The Celtics middle, who has by no means hit a three-pointer in his four-year NBA profession, sank one proper off the bat in Portugal’s EuroBasket opener towards the Czech Republic. Queta completed the sport with 23 factors, 18 rebounds, 4 blocks, and a pair of steals, establishing himself as the sport’s most dominant participant on each ends.
Queta hit 10 of 15 photographs and grabbed 3 offensive rebounds, main Portugal to a important 62-50 victory. It was Portugal’s first EuroBasket win since 2007.
The primary half was a superb show of two-way dominance for Queta, who beat the halftime buzzer with an elbow jumper for 15 factors on 7 of 8 capturing.
He swatted three photographs within the first two quarters, however altered and prevented many extra, with the sport’s announcer at one level stating: “It’s gotten to the purpose for Czechia that if Queta’s close by, they aren’t even going up with the basketball.”
As such, Portugal was markedly higher with Queta on the ground; Portugal outscored Czechia by 21 factors in his half-hour.
The Czech Republic made a third-quarter run with Queta on the bench, however Portugal pulled away within the fourth quarter. Czechia lower the deficit to five with just below 6 minutes to play, however a Queta putback layup helped lengthen Portugal’s lead.
Queta is one in all greater than a dozen NBA gamers presently taking part in in EuroBasket, Europe’s premier basketball event, which takes place each 4 years. 24 European groups are competing in group play, and 16 of these will qualify for the knockout phases.
For Portugal, guard Rafael Lisboa was additionally impactful, tallying 15 factors and hitting 3 of 6 three-pointers. Just one Czech participant scored in double figures: Vit Kerjci, who scored 1o factors alongside 3 assists.
Neemias Queta, Portugal, face Nikola Jokic, Serbia, subsequent
It’s no shock that Queta dominated Wednesday’s match-up towards the Czech Republic; he was the one NBA participant on the court docket, in any case. However larger challenges towards extra formidable NBA publish gamers are coming.
Subsequent up, Portugal faces Serbia — and three-time MVP Nikola Jokic — on Friday afternoon. Then, subsequent week, Queta shall be tasked with limiting Turkey’s Alperen Sengun and Latvia’s Kristaps Porzingis, too.
Right here’s the total schedule of Portugal’s upcoming video games:
Knockout video games start on Saturday, September sixteenth.
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