Magic Markkanen: Lauri Markkanen takes over down the stretch in EuroBasket debut

It took him a while to get going on Thursday, but when he did, Chicago Bulls rookie Lauri Markkanen stole the show and the game for Team Finland in his EuroBasket debut.

Lauri Markkanen checked back into the game for Team Finland with 4:13 left in the contest and France leading, 65-58.

From then on, Markkanen showed why the Chicago Bulls made him the seventh overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by scoring 14 of his team-high 22 points in the final 9:13 of the contest that went into overtime to steal an 86-84 victory for the Finns in his EuroBasket debut.

Markkanen, who came off the bench and got just over 26 minutes of playing time on Thursday against France, wasn’t really a focal point for Finland early on the game. He had a bright moment early with a two-handed slam off a lob shortly after he checked into the contest, but simply was an afterthought for the Finnish throughout most of the day.

There were some struggles for the 19-year-old in his official European debut. He couldn’t create much from his post-up opportunities. In one instance during the game, NBA veteran Boris Diaw had has way with Markkanen defensively due to the seven-footer’s lack of strength at this point in his career. That lack of muscle and power on the blocks could be seen throughout the contest.

(The Atheltic Chicago’s Stephen Noh wrote a good piece on Markkanen’s EuroBasket debut and hit on the 19-year-old’s struggles with posting up against France.)

Part of the problem for Markkanen wasn’t just his inability to use his size and strength effectively. It was his ineffectiveness in establish good post positioning too, which obviously comes with getting stronger with time. There were a couple instances where Markkanen just got bullied completely away from the blocks and when you’re catching the ball 18-20 feet from the basket, it’s hard to be effective with a post-up.

Although he struggled from the blocks, he showed some good aggression throughout his big-time performance. In this possession, Markkanen gets the block on the left block and drop-steps to the baseline. He missed the shot, but the effort to get a second chance for himself and then finish the possession strongly was good to see.

What stuck out from his performance other than his Jay-Z-like takeover late was his aggressive play offensively. He looked to get involved, even when he wasn’t really that involved early in the game.

Take these back-to-back possessions late in the first half when Finland scored just nine points in the entire 10-minute frame, but yet only trailed by one entering the break.

This caught my attention for a couple reasons:

1) Markkanen bringing the ball up the floor is interesting. He may be a seven-footer, but he can handle the ball better than you think he would.

2) Markkanen doesn’t mind using his left hand. He’ll put the ball on the deck and drive on his opposite hand. That’s going to be a good trait to have when you’re playing in the best league in the world soon.

He missed the floater through the contact, but showed good touch on the shot and gave himself a chance to actually get Finland on the board in that second quarter.

This is always a fun play when done properly. Bigs that can lull and fool their defender with a fake handoff and then drive right past them are always beneficial for a team. Markkanen has the ability to put the ball on the deck and do this while getting a foul call, too.

The “Magic Markkanen” Takeover commences

Finland scored 37 of their 86 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. Markkanen scored 14 of his 22 in the final 9+ minutes of the contest and looked like the best player on the floor without question for Finland.

The good thing about Markkanen taking over the game and helping the Finns force OT and then win the game was that it wasn’t just one thing that did the job. Markkanen had a few tricks in the bag down the stretch.

Markkanen did a good job using his body by shielding Diaw away from his shot attempt and getting the nice bounce on his short jumper to fall off the BLOB set.

Earlier in the game, it was Markkanen setting screens for Finland’s guards to try and create. The adjustment was made to fit what Markkanen is so good at: running and popping off screens set for him and shooting from the perimeter. This was a huge triple that the Finns needed right inside of the final two minutes in regulation.

Finland showed the same look as before with trying to pop Markkanen out for a left wing 3, but despite a less amount of space to shoot like before, Markkanen took Nando de Colo, a former NBA guard and one of the better guards in this tournament, off a switch with the left hand and drilled the pull-up deuce like he was 6-foot-3.

“Magic Markkanen” does have a nice ring to it.

And then, the big one.

With Finland leading by two in overtime, Markkanen popped out once again on the left wing after basically faking a pindown screen and drained the biggest shot of the game for the Finns to put them up five with just 1:15 left.

Next: Bulls acquire Quincy Pondexter and a second-round pick from New Orleans Pelicans

It’s just one, but it’s a big one for Markkanen

Finland still has four games in the group stage of EuroBasket 2017 left, but that’s a huge first step for Markkanen. There’s tons of NBA eyes on this tournament — the best basketball tournament not named the Olympics — and Markkanen put on a show in crunch time in front of all of them.

Markkanen is a huge piece to the puzzle of this Bulls rebuild and if he turns into a star, that’s going to be massive for the franchise moving into the future. It’s just one game, albeit a big one against the No. 4 ranked team in the world according to FIBA, but maybe the Bulls might have been onto something taking Markkanen at No. 7 in June.

If you want the whole late-game mix for Markkanen with non-English commentary, it’s fun to watch, too.