Lauri Markkanen Continues Hot Run As He Makes History in EuroBasket Victory

The EuroBasket tournament has started with a bang this summer, and while there's been many great performances thus far, one player has stood out among the rest. That would be Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, who has been putting up highlight reel performances all off-season for Finland, and in their last game, he took it to another level.

In their matchup with Great Britain, the stretch forward went off, posting 43 points, 2 rebounds and 4 steals in just 23 minutes of action for the 109-79 victory.

With 43 points, Markkanen is now responsible for the sixth highest scoring game in the history of the tournament, and given the other names that compete year after year, that's incredibly impressive. In two games, Finland are 2-0 with a +33 point differential, and unsurprisingly, that's due to the play of their leader.

In those two games, Markkanen now averages 35.5 points on 54% shooting from the field alongside 4 rebounds and 2 assists per game, as he appears to be taking his game to another level. 

We've seen Markkanen play at a very high level in the NBA thus far, but this is a new level entirely, with the 28-year old finally putting it all together as the leader of this Finnish squad. With much bigger and tougher competition upcoming for Markkanen and Finland, we'll see if this level of scoring is sustainable, but as of right now, he's doing it on all three levels, and that makes this team very dangerous in the tournament.