The spotlight usually shines on the NBA Playoffs as the peak of basketball intensity. But a recent confession from Latvian sharpshooter Davis Bertans has sparked a growing debate. Is EuroBasket tougher? More competitive? In the late summer heat of Athens, with EuroBasket 2025 in full swing, Bertans offered a perspective that’s turning heads.

In a basketball culture obsessed with Finals runs and playoff legacies, hearing an eight-year NBA veteran hint that the real war is fought across Europe demands a closer look. And when that player has been to both trenches, you listen. “I feel like it’s even more competitive in EuroBasket,” said Davis Bertans. 

The Latvia star continued, “In the playoffs, in the NBA, as many times as I’ve been, the preparation is a little bit longer, that just tends to change how you approach the game, how you approach the players.” But that was not just a random comment. It came in Athens, where Bertans was preparing for the Acropolis tournament, a key tune-up for EuroBasket 2025. 

With head coach Luca Banchi guiding a golden generation, Latvia has gone from underdogs to giant slayers. They crushed France and Spain on their way to a historic fifth-place finish at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. For Bertans, who once torched NBA defenses from deep and now preps to lead a European squad backed by a real system, EuroBasket is time to make a statement.

NBA Playoffs give you time, days to adjust, film sessions that pick apart every rotation. In EuroBasket, it’s a sprint, five games in eight days. A loss can kill your momentum or send you home; there are no seven-game lifelines, only one shot. Kristaps Porzingis echoed the pressure. “Every possession matters,” he said. “This is why it’s so fun for us as players and the fans.” It’s fun, no doubt, but also unforgiving. And for Bertans, maybe even more so than the NBA.

David Bertans revealed why EuroBasket is vastly different from the NBA

“But I feel like when it comes to the national teams, you prepare more to guard the team instead of just one player.” Davis Bertans told Basketnews while comparing the Eurobasket with the NBA playoffs. The Spurs veteran made it clear that what runs European basketball is not just the intensity, rather the tactical warfare.

In the NBA, you lock in on superstars. Game plans revolve around stopping a LeBron, a Steph, a Luka. In EuroBasket, the threat is spread across the roster. Coaches craft sets that punish the smallest lapse. Teams move, cut, screen, and hit you with four passes before a corner three. 

“It’s more about communicating about the rules and where we all should be,” Bertans said of Latvia’s final prep, especially with players like Rodions Kurucs returning to the lineup. “Every game we’re playing better and better, so we’ve got to keep it going.” The difference is philosophical. NBA teams are built around stars, while European squads are built around systems.

Luka Doncic said the same last season that it’s “100% harder” to score in the EuroLeague. Porzingis said the “life and death” feeling of EuroBasket mirrors the NBA Finals. The rules, the court spacing, even the officiating, everything tightens up in Europe. Davis Bertans gave voice to something that NBA fans and players often overlook: team-first, short-form, must-win basketball brings out a different kind of edge. He’s played against the best in the world, hit dagger threes in playoff atmospheres, and still, he says EuroBasket is more difficult.