By Semih Tuna/ info@eurohoops.net
Riga, Latvia – Following a comfortable win over Estonia on Monday, Shane Larkin talked to Eurohoops about the next challenge for Turkiye in EuroBasket 2025, a meeting with Serbia on Wednesday to decide first place in Group A of the preliminary round.
The matchup between NBA stars Alperen Sengun and Nikola Jokic headlines the Gameday 5 affair, before both sides continue in the knockout stage of the international tournament.
“We talk about starting and making the first punch, and we’ve been able to do that over the first few games. Obviously, we have a really important, a really hard test coming in the next few days,” pointed out the American-born combo guard of Turkiye, “All the work that we’ve been putting in the last few months and all the things that we’ve been talking about and working on is going to be put to the test in the next game.”
With Bogdan Bogdanovic ruled out for the remainder of EuroBasket due to injury, Serbia is looking to still confirm initial predictions about capturing gold in Riga.
“I think people are going to say what they’re going to say,” Larkin rejected any kind of favorite labels, “It doesn’t really matter what people on the outside are saying. Once you get in between those four lines, it’s about who plays the hardest, who plays together, who stays poise in the big moments.”
The next question was specifically about Sengun taking on Jokic in the last pool play affair.
“There’s no other basketball going on in the world right now. This is the game to watch if you’re going to be watching the basketball and you’re a basketball fan,” replied Larkin.
“I know he’s really motivated for it,” he continued on his teammate’s approach, “One of the best players in the world, if not the best player in the world, and I think Alperen has those aspirations to continue to strive to be one of the better players in the NBA, one of the better players in the world, and I think he’s well on his way. So it’s going to be fun.”
Photo Credit: FIBA