Türkiye vs Poland Preview: Undefeated Mythology faces the King of Reversal, who will advance first?

The 2025 Men's Basketball European Championship has entered a fierce stage, and eight teams will compete for the ultimate semi-finals in the quarter-finals. At 22:00 tonight, the Turkish men's basketball team will confront the Polish men's basketball team; at 2:00 tomorrow, the Greek men's basketball team will face the Lithuanian men's basketball team. The winner between these two matches will advance to the semi-finals of this European Championship and launch an attack on the final championship trophy.

What I am most concerned about today should be the battle between Turkey and Poland. One is Turkey, which has not yet lost to this European Championship, and the other is the king of reversals who repeatedly rely on team reversals to win in adversity.

As the two teams that debuted in the quarter-finals, the attention is naturally high, among which Turkey has the highest attention. The Turkish men's basketball team is one of the most amazing teams in this European Championship. They defeated Serbia in the group stage and advanced to the quarterfinals without any danger in the knockout stage. As of now, Turkey and Germany are the only teams that have not lost. They advanced to the quarterfinals with an impressive record of winning all six games, which is also Türkiye's longest winning streak in international competitions since 1957.

The last time Türkiye reached the quarterfinals of the European Championships dates back to 16 years ago, when Shen Jing was only 7 years old and was still in the second grade of elementary school. This is the third time Türkiye has reached the quarterfinals of the European Championship this century, with the first two being in 2009 and 2001 respectively. In 2009, Türkiye stopped in the quarterfinals of the European Championships, but in the 2001 European Championships, Türkiye won the runner-up in the European Championships in its local battle, which was also the best result in Türkiye.

Now this Türkiye is extremely united, and the morale of the whole team is at its peak, so they have hope to strive for the first European Championship trophy in the team's history. Türkiye's core is Shin Kyung, who plays for the NBA Houston Rockets. He averaged 22 points, 10.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1 block in his first six games, and won the Player of the Single Game for six consecutive games.

Shin Kyung's dominance, excellent support ability and high-level hand-hand cooperation are the absolute axis of Türkiye's offense. In the 1/8 finals of the elimination of Sweden, Shin Kyung scored 24 points, 16 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks, which was the absolute hero of the team's reversal and victory. With his performance in this game, Shin Kyung became the second player in the European Championship to achieve at least 20 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists in a single game in the past 30 years. The last player to do this was Poland's Point, who scored 26 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in the quarter-finals against Slovenia.

As the saying goes, two players who have achieved such success in the European Championship will soon confront each other head-on in the next quarter-finals. Although Bonetka's fame is not as good as Shin Kyung, he impressed Chinese fans. In the 2019 Men's Basketball World Cup, it was Bonetka who intercepted the Chinese team's sideline serve at the last moment, which made the Chinese men's basketball team lose the opportunity to go directly to the Tokyo Olympics. Six years have passed, and the 32-year-old Ponetka is still one of the core players of this Polish team.

Türkiye can win all the first six games, not only Shen Jing, but also Türkiye has stable output points such as Ottoman, Larkin and Osmani. Although Ottoman has faded out of the NBA, as an important member of the Turkish forward, he can provide stable three-pointers per game, which is the guarantee for the team's outside line. As the core of the organization on the back line, Larkin can effectively sort out the offense and exert defensive pressure.

Poland reached the semi-finals in the last session, and this time they have the hope of achieving this goal again at their doorstep. In this European Championship, Poland won the second place in Group D with 3 wins and 2 losses in the group stage, and reversed and defeated the Bosnia and Herzegovina men's basketball team in the 1/8 final. Poland's promotion path showed strong resilience and team basketball style.

Although Poland is not a basketball powerhouse, Poland has also performed well in the European Championships. Poland won the third place in the 1965 European Championships. Two years later, Poland took a step further and won the runner-up in the event, which is also Poland's best result in the European Championships. After entering the new century, Poland's best result is to win fourth place in the 2022 European Championships. Now they have the hope to continue to reach the semi-finals.

The team's naturalized player Lloyd also made an indelible contribution to the top 8, especially in the eighth final against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lloyd scored 28 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block, and was the biggest contributor to Poland's reversal in the last quarter. Lloyd averaged 22 points in six games in this European Championship, ranking fifth in the scoring list.

Another key player is the old acquaintance Bonnetka, who is the adhesive for Poland, averaging 17.8 points, 8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, and he performed particularly well on the defensive end. Poland's biggest advantage lies in the team's unity and the spirit of never giving up.

For reference, in the past eight European Championships, Turkey won two games and lost six games. However, Türkiye has defeated Poland in the last two matches.

According to the current situation of both sides, the Turkish team is slightly better in overall strength, lineup depth and star quality. Although Poland is not as strong as Türkiye on paper, their resilience and team spirit cannot be underestimated. Coupled with the advantage of home court, Poland is not without opportunities. The core highlight of this game is the match between Shin Kyung and Poland's inside line. How to limit Shin Kyung's performance is an issue that Polish coach needs to pay attention to. Milicic is likely to use mixed defense, perform early tough defense when Shin Kyung dribbling, and try his best to interfere with Turkey's outside shooter group.

It is not realistic to completely prevent Shin Jing. The key is to reduce Shin Jing's efficiency on the offensive end and not allow him to handle the high position with ease. In addition, Poland must play the ultimate team basketball. In addition to Lloyd's continuous efficiency, other role players also need to stand up at critical moments..

I personally think that Turkey's winning odds in this game are slightly larger. After all, Turkey has the strong point of Shen Jing, and Larkin and Ottoman are also restrained on the outside. They have more choices at critical moments, so Türkiye is more likely to advance to the semi-finals.

Of course, competitive sports have never been based on paper strength, and there are many possibilities that affect the trend of the game. For example, the team feels bad during the game, the core players are not in shape, or the defensive end cannot keep up with the opponent's rhythm. In addition to considering your potential hidden dangers, you also need to consider your opponent's factors. For example, the opponent suddenly explodes on the offensive end. In many classic games, it is because the opponent feels hot on the outside and cannot defend against the opponent's shooting at all.

knockout rounds are all single games to determine the outcome. In addition to giving priority to paper strength, you should also be wary of unpredictable accidents. All guesses are based on the actual situation of both parties, but the final result can only be determined by comparing it. As for this quarter-final that started first, we are waiting for the two teams to contribute a high-level showdown in the game.