A unique EuroBasket achievement places Slovenia among all-time greats / News - Basketnews.com

Slovenia won its 10th game in a row in EuroBasket to become only the 10th country to have such a streak in the tournament's history. The first to ever do it was the opponent they beat last night - Lithuania.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

With a win over Lithuania last night, the Slovenian national team achieved a unique feat in EuroBasket history.

Slovenia / Schedule

Slovenia Lithuania92-85 Hungary SloveniaSat18:30 Slovenia Bosnia and HerzegovinaSun15:45 Germany SloveniaTue18:30 France SloveniaWed15:15

The Slovenians won EuroBasket 2017 with young Luka Doncic and MVP Goran Dragic. This year, the duo is back together and has already captured its first win. The win against Lithuania is the 10th in a row for the national team, making it only the 10th country in the tournament's history to achieve such a feat.

Interestingly, the first country to ever do it was the opponent Slovenia beat yesterday - Lithuania. The Baltic nation went undefeated in two tournaments in a row in 1937 and 1939 to become the first country with 10 wins in a row.

Shortly thereafter it was done by two more countries. Czechoslovakia was first by winning all four 4 games in 1946 and the first six in 1947 (the only time in history when two EuroBaskets were held in consecutive years) while ultimately falling in the final.

Egypt has participated in the European tournament four times during the years and managed to get into the 10-win club during the tournament. They won the last two games in 1947, won it all in 1949 (6 games), then missed a year and only participated in the 1953 championship where they captured the first 3 wins. The streak was stopped by the Egyptians themselves as they refused to play Israel for political reasons and forfeited the match.

Then the time came for the biggest streak in the entire list, a streak that will probably never be topped. The Soviet Union takes first and second place with astounding streaks of 26 and 59 matches in a row.

The Soviet Union won all 9 matches in 1951, all 10 in 1953, and the first 7 in 1955. Just three games after, a streak of 59 won games in a row began.

The national team won the last game in 1955, all 10 matches in both 1957 and 1959, all 9 in both 1961 and 1963, all 8 in both 1965 and 1967, and the first four in 1969.

Yugoslavia was the one to break the streak with a convincing 73-61 win. Yugoslavia itself is the only country besides the Soviet Union to have two such streaks of 10+ wins in a row.

First, it happened during the 70s when Yugoslavia won all 7 matches in 1973, then all 8 in 1975, and the first 4 in the 1977 EuroBasket. Then, it took place during the last years of the Cold War when Yugoslavia was victorious in its last match in 1987 and then won it all in both 1989 (5 games) and 1991 (5 games).

Only Italy managed to slip in during the times with 11 wins in a row between EuroBaskets in 1983 and 1985.

All three remaining streaks were achieved during modern times. Russia was first by winning the last match in 2009 and the first 9 in 2011, then France won their last 3 in 2013 and their first 7 in 2015.

Spain is the post-Cold War record-holder with 13 won matches in a row with 6 games to end the EuroBasket 2015 and the first 7 victorious matchups to start EuroBasket 2017.

Although Group B in this year's EuroBasket looks fierce and is probably the strongest in recent memory, the way Slovenia looks and the talent it has might suggest that the streak Spain holds might no longer be the record of modern basketball in EuroBasket.

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