EuroBasket 2022: Previewing the Round of 16 before tipoff Saturday in Berlin

The EuroBasket 2022 field has been trimmed from 24 teams to 16 as the Group Stage concluded on Thursday and the Knockout Stage is set to begin this weekend in Berlin, Germany.

The Group Stage featured the 24-team field split into four groups of six teams each. Each team played every other team in its group, with the top four teams in each group advancing to the Knockout Stage.

Remaining Teams

The following teams finished in the top four of their respective groups and advanced to the Knockout Stage. All NBA players participating are highlighted below.

Group A (Tbilisi)

Spain (4-1): Juancho Hernangomez (Toronto); Willy Hernangomez (New Orleans)
Turkey (3-2): Cedi Osman (Cleveland); Alperen Sengun (Houston); Furkan Korkmaz (Philadelphia)
Montenegro (3-2): no NBA players
Belgium (3-2): no NBA players

Group B (Cologne)

Slovenia (4-1): Luka Doncic (Dallas); Goran Dragic (Chicago); Vlatko Cancar (Denver)
Germany (4-1): Dennis Schroder (free agent); Daniel Theis (Indiana); Franz Wagner (Orlando)
France (3-2): Evan Fournier (New York); Rudy Gobert (Minnesota); Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (free agent); Theo Maledon (Oklahoma City); Frank Ntilikina (Dallas)
Lithuania (2-3): Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento); Jonas Valanciunas (New Orleans)

Group C (Milan)

Greece (5-0): Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee); Thanasis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee); Tyler Dorsey (Dallas)
Ukraine (3-2): Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (free agent)
Croatia (3-2): Bojan Bogdanovic (Utah); Dario Saric (Phoenix); Ivica Zubac (LA Clippers)
Italy (3-2): no NBA players

Group D (Prague)

Serbia (5-0): Nikola Jokic (Denver); Nikola Jovic (Miami); Aleksej Pokusevski (Oklahoma City)
Finland (3-2): Lauri Markkanen (Utah)
Poland (3-2): no NBA players
Czech Republic (2-3): no NBA players

Knockout Stage Bracket

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞.

Who you got in the Round Of 16?#EuroBasket x #BringTheNoise pic.twitter.com/Ktpc1wQNeb

— #EuroBasket 2022 (@EuroBasket) September 8, 2022

From here on out, it is a single-elimination tournament. Saturday and Sunday will feature four games apiece to cut the field in half and set up the quarterfinals, which will be played on Sept. 13 and 14. The winners of those four games will meet in the semifinals on Sept. 16 and the tournament will conclude on Sept. 18 with the third place game and the championship game.

Knockout Stage Schedule

All remaining games will be played at the EuroBasket Arena in Berlin.

Group Stage Highlights

Only two teams emerged from the Group Stage unbeaten – Serbia and Greece both at 5-0 – as they are led by the two players that have won the past four Kia NBA MVPs: Denver’s Nikola Jokic for Serbia and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo for Greece.

Giannis led all players in scoring during the Group Stage with an average of 29.5 points per game on 58.2 shooting over four games despite suffering a mild right ankle sprain in the third quarter of Greece’s win over Estonia on Thursday capped off their sweep of Group C. Giannis will have two days off to rest before Greece opens the Knockout Stage on Sunday against the Czech Republic.

Jokic ranked sixth in scoring (19.6 ppg) and fourth in rebounding (9.4 rpg) and first in field goal percentage (68.4%) in the Group Phase as he posted double-doubles in three of Serbia’s five wins in Group D. The reigning two-time MVP leads Serbia into the Knockout Stage with an opening matchup with Italy on Sunday.

The defending EuroBasket champion Slovenia finished atop Group B as they matched Germany with a 4-1 record but won their head-to-head matchup behind a 36-point performance from Luka Doncic. But that wasn’t Luka’s best game of the Group Stage. In Slovenia’s 88-82 win over France on Wednesday, Luka exploded for 47 points while also leading Slovenia with seven rebounds and five assists.

Luka not only topped Giannis’ 41-point effort from the day before as the top scoring game of the tournament, his 47 points are the second most points scored in the history of the European championships. Luka and the defending champs open the Knockout Stage on Saturday against Belgium.

All four teams that emerged from Group B feature at least two NBA players, including France, which boasts the most NBA talent with five players, led by Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier, along with Frank Ntilikina, Theo Maledon and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. France plays in the opening game of the Knockout Stage against a Turkish squad that has three NBA players of its own (Cedi Osman, Alperen Sengun and Furkan Korkmaz).

Spain won Group A with a 4-1 record behind the play of the Hernangomez brothers. Willy led the Spanish effort with 15.4 points per game (18th overall) and 7.4 rebounds per game (11th overall). Juancho added 9.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg and 1.6 apg. Spain opens the Knockout Stage on Saturday against a Lithuanian, which also features a pair of NBA big men in Domantas Sabonis and Jonas Valanciunas. Lithuania finished the Group Stage at just 2-3, matching the Czech Republic as the only sub-.500 teams to advance to the Knockouts.

Lauri Markkanen, who was traded from Cleveland to Utah in the Donovan Mitchell trade during the Group Phase, posted a pair of 30-plus point games to help Finland advance to the Knockout Stage out of Group D. His next action comes on Sunday as Finland opens Knockout play against a Croatian squad that features Markkanen’s new Jazz teammate Bojan Bogdanovic as well as Dario Saric and Ivica Zubac.

As for the host country, the German squad has been led by Dennis Schroder, who ranks in the top 10 in both scoring (18.3 ppg) and assists (6.8 apg) in the Group Stage. Franz Wagner is tied for 14th in scoring at 16.2 points per game, including a 32-point performance against Lithuania. Germany hosts Montenegro on Saturday in their opening game of the Knockout Stage.