Portugal Stuns Spain in Historic Upset Led by Neemias Queta
Spain arrived as a 12.5-point favorite, stacked with NBA pedigree and history on its side. Portugal arrived with one NBA player and almost no precedent.
History left with Portugal.
In a result that shakes up World Cup qualifying and rewrites a chapter of Iberian basketball, Portugal stunned Spain 95-89, their first-ever tournament win over a nation long considered the global standard-bearer behind only the United States. The victory lifts Portugal to 4-3 in qualifying and keeps alive the dream of a first World Cup appearance.
At the center of it all, in every sense, was Neemias Queta.
Queta at the Heart of a Historic Night
Spain rolled out a roster that looked like a scouting department’s dream. Rising second-year wing Hugo Gonzalez. Former Celtic Juancho Hernangomez. Six players with NBA ties, the depth and talent you’d expect from a program that has churned out stars for two decades.
Portugal had Queta.
The Boston Celtics big man didn’t dominate the box score from start to finish, but he owned the second half. He finished with 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting and nine rebounds, imposing himself when the game tilted into its decisive moments. Every rebound seemed to matter. Every finish in traffic felt like a statement.
This wasn’t just an upset. For Portugal, this was a line in the sand.
The national team, which finally returned to EuroBasket last year for only the fourth time in its history and the first time since 2011, has been slowly edging toward relevance. Wins like this turn a slow climb into a surge.
“It’s a growing thing,” Queta told Eurohoops recently. “We’re getting so much better as a country in the sport. So, I feel like it’s only fitting that I keep on getting better, too. So, I just want to be out here competing my best and live with the results.”
On nights like this, the growth is impossible to ignore.
A Rising Center, a Rising Country
For Queta, these qualifiers are more than patriotic duty. They’re a proving ground.
He’s coming off the best season of his NBA career: 10.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game across 76 appearances, starting 75 of them. That’s a massive leap for a player who managed just 48 games total in his first three seasons between Sacramento and Boston.
That leap earned him his first major contract. This summer, the Celtics committed to Queta with a four-year, $56 million extension, set to kick in after the coming season. It’s a clear vote of confidence, but also a line of accountability. You don’t hand out that kind of deal to a developmental project. You give it to someone you expect to anchor playoff series.
And that’s where the questions begin.
Boston’s season ended with a thud last spring, blowing a 3-1 lead to the Sixers. In the postmortem, team president Brad Stevens didn’t dodge the issue: Queta struggled to protect the rim and to defend Joel Embiid without fouling. Too often, Boston’s center was a spectator from the bench when the game demanded a presence in the paint.
“To be honest, one of the things with Neemi was just figuring out how to keep him on the floor,” Stevens admitted. “Because he had two games where he’s off the floor in four minutes.”
For a starting center on a contender, that’s not survivable. Hence the next move.
Boston Turns Up the Heat at Center
Stevens didn’t just talk about needing more impact at the rim. He went and signed it.
Mitchell Robinson, long one of the league’s premier offensive rebounders and shot-blockers when healthy, arrives from New York as direct competition. His presence changes the calculus for Queta. The Celtics now have a proven interior defender on the depth chart, a player whose strengths line up exactly with the weaknesses that burned them against Embiid.
Queta’s margin for error shrinks. His opportunity does not.
Robinson’s history is clear: elite when available, but frequently sidelined. That opens the door for Queta to claim heavy minutes regardless of who starts on opening night. If he sharpens his defensive discipline and turns his size and mobility into consistent rim protection, he can force Boston’s hand. If he doesn’t, Robinson is waiting.
This is where Portugal matters.
These World Cup qualifiers are not summer scrimmages for Queta. They’re high-pressure, high-stakes reps in environments that look and feel a lot like playoff basketball: hostile crowds, tactical game plans, every possession magnified. Beating Spain in that cauldron is the kind of experience that can harden a player for May and June.
A Must-Win Ahead
Portugal doesn’t have much time to bask in the upset. Next up is Georgia, also sitting at 4-3, in what amounts to a must-win clash on Monday. The stakes are simple: keep the World Cup dream alive or let the greatest win in the country’s history become a footnote instead of a launching pad.
For Queta, the parallel is obvious. Portugal is trying to break into the global elite. He’s trying to cement himself in the NBA’s.
One historic win over Spain and a $56 million contract say he’s on the right path.
The next question is whether he can turn flashes of promise—on both continents—into a permanent place at the top.
