Portland Trail Blazers small forward Deni Avdija missed two critical late-game shots as Israel suffered a close loss to co-host Poland at EuroBasket.Naji Saker for The Oregonian/OregonLive
Deni Avdija had a prolific individual performance for the second consecutive game at the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 tournament.
But a pair of costly late-game misses by Avdija sunk Israel in Katowice, Poland.
Avdija’s all-round dominance was not enough to prevent Israel from falling 66-64 to co-host Poland Saturday in Group D play.
The Portland Trail Blazers‘ small forward finished with 23 points, nine rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks as Israel (1-1) suffered its first loss.
With Blazers coach Chauncey Billups watching in person, Avdija did a little bit of everything, swishing transition three-pointers, finishing multiple acrobatic drives at the basket and delivering a steal and coast-to-coast layup.
But he had another tough shooting outing — finishing just 7 of 19 from the field, including 3 of 10 from three-point range — and misfired on the two biggest attempts of the night.
The first came with 42 seconds left, when he bricked a three-pointer from the right side in a game that was tied 64-64. The second came at the final horn, after Poland took a 66-64 lead on a Jordan Loyd rebound put-back.
Avdija dribbled deep along the perimeter on the ill-fated final shot, creating an isolation opportunity against Poland’s Michal Sokolowski. Avdija carved out a little space on the left side, darted behind the three-point line, and hoisted a step-back jumper over Sokolowski fingertips.
The shot looked good, but bounced off the front of the rim just before the buzzer sounded.
It stained an otherwise solid outing for Avdija, who is averaging 21.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.0 steals and 2.0 blocks in the international tournament.
Israel’s next game will come Sunday against France (2-0).
Watch game highlights below:
— Joe Freeman is a senior writer at The Oregonian/OregonLive covering the Trail Blazers and NBA. Reach him at 503-294-5183, jfreeman@oregonian.com, @BlazerFreeman or @freemanjoe.bsky.social. Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today to OregonLive.com.
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