After finish third in Group B on home soil in Tampere, Finland caused one of the shocks of European basketball history by beating Serbia in the Round of 16, before knocking Georgia out in a Quarter-final battle of the underdogs on Wednesday.
Germany thrashed Finland in the group stage 91-61 when both teams had already qualified and were all but sure of finishing first and third, thus the Finns were out to put in a much stronger performance to give themselves a chance against the 2023 World Cup winners.
The Wolfpack certainly put their best feet forward from the off - Miro Little and Mikael Jantunen quickly found their stride before a three-pointer from Jacob Grandison gave Finland a 14-6 lead in the first five minutes.
But Germany soon found their rhythm, scoring 10 points without reply to turn an 18-11 deficit into a 21-18 lead, as Franz Wagner began to control the tempo of the match. Johannes Thiemann helped grow that lead to 29-21, before Finland chipped away, making the score 30-26 after one quarter.
Not only did Finland not lead the match again, but their hopes were all but ended by Germany's blistering start to the second quarter.
Wagner scored six in an 8-0 run to start, and though Lauri Markkanen's two ended that streak, Wagner added another couple of efforts from downtown to give the Germans a 19-4 run in the first 05:19 of the second quarter, putting them 49-30 ahead.
Miikka Muurinen and Olivier Nkamhoua were particularly effective in stopping the rot, but more threes from Wagner, Dennis Schroder and Tristan Da Silva ensured Germany were 61-47 clear at the half.
Lassi Tuovi's side briefly got the deficit down to single digits at the start of the third, but Die Mannschaft were unstoppable from long range, effortlessly bringing the lead back to 18 points.
The Finns briefly threatened an almighty comeback - 77-60 down with 03:33 to play, Edon Maxhuni scored from inside and outside the arc within an 11-0 run, getting the men in blue back to within six points with 01:13 left in the quarter.
Outscoring Germany 26-20 in the third quarter had made it 81-73 with 10 minutes to play, but a tightening of the German defence prevented Finland from pulling off something similar. In fact, they could only manage half that attacking output, scoring just 13 points.
In fact, two free throws from Nkamhoua was all Finland mustered in the first 05:22, missing shots from distance and in the paint, as Germany barely had to break sweat in attack to close out the win in an anti-climactic final quarter.
Tristan Da Silva's three to make it 96-80 inside the final four minutes all but ended the contest, though Muurinen and Elias Valtonen added the final five points to make the final score 98-86 to Germany.
Schroder's 26 points and 12 assists saw him lead the game in both. Wagner scored 22 points and Nkamhoua hit 21 for Finland. Daniel Theis led the game in rebounds with 11, two more than Nkamhoua.
Bronze medallists at EuroBasket 2022, Germany are back in the Final for the first time since 2005 and are looking for their first European gold since their only EuroBasket win in 1993. They will play either Greece or Turkey, who meet in tonight's second Semi-final.
The Final will be played on Sunday evening, after the bronze medal match, which Finland will contest for the first time.