Dirk Nowitzki reveals his pick for the winner of EuroBasket 2022 final / News - Basketnews.com

Dirk Nowitzki picks France to win EuroBasket 2022. The German legend likes the way Lorenzo Brown plays and remembers how he took the game over against Lithuania.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Spain and France will meet in the EuroBasket 2022 final at 20:30 CET today in Berlin to determine the winner of the tournament.

With the game fastly approaching, the ambassador of the championship and former basketball great Dirk Nowitzki gave his prediction for the winner of the EuroBasket.

"It's been a tournament of upsets, of big stars losing early. Two great teams are still standing, two teams that really don't have one superstar, they're great teams, they have great benches," Dirk started off. "It could go either way, honestly, like this whole tournament did."

"If I had to pick a team, I guess it would be France. Like I said, both teams are really close together, well-coached. Both teams have a good guard, they have shooters, they have big men who can dominate," the German basketball legend continued. "If you forced my hand, I guess I'd say France."

France arrives at the final after blowing out Poland by 41 points in a game where all 12 French players appeared on the court and scored at least 3 points. Spain, on the other hand, had to fight until the last minutes to overcome Germany.

"They have to almost play like they did in the semifinal - be good on defense, have Rudy [Gobert] be a factor, get all the rebounds," Nowitzki explained. "I think Gobert is fantastic defensively. He's so long, he's so active."

"On offense, they have a lot of options - Heurtel is playing well off the bench, Yabusele has been playing really well shooting the ball, they have some guys that can make some plays on the perimeter," the German said. "Fournier is obviously a big-time shotmaker and playmaker off the dribble."

While France doesn't have one clear MVP candidate, the story is different on their opponents' roster. Lorenzo Brown, who got naturalized and joined La Familia only this summer, is the clear leader of the squad, averaging 15.4 points and 7.1 assists per game.

"Spain has a very good guard in Lorenzo [Brown]. He's super smart, never gets too sped up, never gets rattled, puts everybody in their position, makes big shots. He really surprised me in this tournament," Dirk told.

"He took over the game against Lithuania in the Round of 16 down the stretch and overtime, made basically every right play," he remembered. "He's really good."

Spain and France is the biggest rivalry of modern European basketball. Sergio Scariolo has lost only one final with the Spanish national team, and it happened in the 2012 London Olympic Games against the USA, led by LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, and James Harden.

"Both teams are very well-rounded and have lots of good players and different guys can step up and make big plays and big shots in certain times. I think it's going to be a graet final," the legend concluded.

Thank you for reading us! Help us even more.