The pre-talk revolved around the Finnish NBA star Lauri Markkanen and how Sweden would stop him in the World Cup qualifiers.
In the first two periods, the Swedes had good control of the 25-year-old and they led 46-43 at half time.
But Markkanen and the favorite tipped Finland would shift up.
After a night black third period (26-8), Sweden ended up in a disadvantage that would never be caught up.
"Going down us"
In the end, it was a loss of 85-69.
- We start well, but go down in the second half.
We came out scared and lost the game, says Simon Birgander afterwards.
The road to the World Cup is now long.
To advance from the qualifiers, Sweden now needs to beat Slovenia this weekend and at the same time get other results.