Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier advance to knockout rounds of Eurobasket

Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier have helped Montenegro and France advance to the knockout round of Eurobasket. Now the real challenge begins.

Group play at Eurobasket finished up Thursday as Montenegro defeated Romania 86-69. Montenegro had already punched their ticket to the knockout round beginning for them Sunday earlier in the week. It is a monumental moment for Nikola Vucevic and the country that has struggled in basketball the last few years.

For Montenegro, just advancing to the next round accomplishes their goals for the tournament. Their 3-2 record included an upset victory over the Czech Republic to clinch that spot.

The team, a mix of versatile stretch bigs with Nikola Vucevic and American-born guard Tyrese Rice, impressed after their frustrating opening game against Spain, pushing Croatia to the brink before taking care of business against the Czech Republic and Romania to advance.

Of course, now is the time for every team at Eurobasket to prove their worth. Now is the knockout round when the tournament really begins.

Both Evan Fournier and France and Nikola Vucevic and Montenegro will play in games Saturday and Sunday as the single elimination phase of the tournament begins in Turkey on Saturday.

France will take on Dennis Schroder and Germany on Saturday at 8:15 a.m Eastern Time. Montenegro will take on Kristaps Porzingis and Magic second round pick Janis Timma and Latvia on Sunday at 5:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

These will be the big tests for the Magic’s two representatives at Eurobasket.

For both Fournier and Vucevic, they have had their ups and downs.

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Fournier started off the tournament very strong with 25- and 21-point games to get France going out of the gate. He faded a bit to the background in the final three games. In the group phase, Fournier averaged 13.6 points per game, shooting 43.8 percent from the floor and 51.0 percent effective field goal percentage.

Fournier has had his moments where he has looked really effective, working well off the ball and in the pick and roll. In the five-game group stage, Fournier shot 23 free throws — although he took 20 of them in his first two games when he scored 21 and 25 points. His play has fallen off in the last two games especially as he dealt with foul trouble.

That came to a head in France’s loss to Slovenia in the group finale Wednesday. Fournier fouled out and picked up his second technical foul as he let out his frustrations on the official. It was not a good way for him to close the game.

Fournier should be set to play in Saturday’s knockout game against Germany. And France will need him playing like he did earlier in the tournament with the stakes much higher.

France still plays more through Nando De Colo, Thomas Huertel and even Joffrey Lauvergne. But Fournier has found a way to score and be effective in spurts during this tournament.

Perhaps he has forced his offense a bit too much at times, falling into the trap he fell into during the NBA season. But Fournier has largely been good so long as he keeps himself composed. He has shown more patience on drives and a better hand at distributing the ball.

Vucevic has had a somewhat different experience. Vucevic has struggled to get himself going through the tournament so far.

He is averaging 14.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game for Montenegro. He has scored at least 12 points in every game, showing at least some measure of consistency. Vucevic is shooting 50.0 percent from the floor. After struggling with his shot earlier in the tournament, he got hot later on to get to that number.

A big help for him was getting back to the paint and getting some shots up early to get into a rhythm. His shots and his looks have come up in bunches. He has sucked up defensive attention, so Montenegro has had to work harder to get him good looks.

Montenegro will have a tall task going up against Latvia. France will not have an easy time with Germany.

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Both teams will have their work cut out for them to get to the next round in Eurobasket. But there is definitely the opportunity for both Fournier and Vucevic to score one more solid game and help their teams make more out of their Eurobasket runs.