Sweden's small hopes of an upset against the reigning world champions from Germany did not become greater a couple of hours before the tip-off in Tampere.
Then, Blågult made the decision to leave both NBA star Pelle Larsson and center giant Simon Birgander at the hotel. The duo was deemed not ready for play due to illness symptoms.
In their absence, Sweden had to rearrange the team and both Barra Njie and Mattias Markusson took a place in the starting five.
One is ready to start every match, I hope that Simon gets better and is ready to start tomorrow, if not, I am ready, says 217 centimeter tall Markusson, who made 13 points, to SVT.
"Tough as hell"
Melwin Pantzar, top scorer with 18 points, about the loss of the duo:
Tough as hell. They are two fantastic players and a big part of our team.
After the narrow loss to Finland on Wednesday, the match then started pitch black when Germany quickly rushed to an 8-0 lead in less than three minutes.
Melwin Pantzar was the one who mainly saw to it that Sweden actually got some contact later in the first period, but pretty soon the Germans pulled away again. Germany, with NBA stars Franz Wagner and Dennis Schröder, managed time and time again to take the ball to the basket to make "easy" points. Sweden had to toil much harder offensively and was often forced to tough three-point attempts.
Germany had 59-42 at halftime and already then it was clear that Sweden will have to continue waiting for their first win in the European Championship.
"Just gonna go for it"
But perhaps not for much more than a day, since Great Britain is waiting at 3:30 pm on Saturday afternoon. In the best case, Pelle Larsson and Simon Birgander are game-ready again then.
On paper, Great Britain is the weakest opponent in group B and a win would take Sweden closer to the round of 16 in Riga next weekend. The four best teams in the six-team group will advance.
We just gonna go for it, not think too much. We should have confidence and just go for it, says Pantzar.
