The two rivals' preparations for the tournament could not have been more different, as Finland beat Belgium and Poland twice each, while Sweden lost all four of their warm-up matches, including a heavy loss to Portugal and a narrow defeat to Finland's conquerors Poland.
In front of a capacity crowd in Tampere, the early signs were that this match was going to go with the form book as Finland went 6-0 up, and though Sweden came back to lead by one point on two occasions, the Finns soon went on an 8-0 run for their biggest lead of the quarter, 21-13.
Sweden closed the gap slightly to end the first quarter 26-21 behind, and maintained their scoring rate early in the second, chipping away at the Wolfpack's lead before finally going 36-34 ahead.
The Blagult extended their advantage to five points, but roared on by the home crowd, Finland scored the last six points of the half - the last two coming from Andre Gustavson under the basket in the final minute - to go in 49-48 ahead.
In the third quarter, the lead changed hands five times in what was already turning into a classic encounter.
An early four-point lead for Finland was the greatest lead either side held, and though Sweden found themselves 70-67 ahead late on thanks to Ludvig Hakanson finding his range from beyond the arc, the quarter inevitably ended with the sides inseparable at 72-72.
A real upset looked to be on the cards early in the final quarter, as Sweden outscored their opponents 7-3 to take a 79-75 advantage with 06:38 left in the match.
But that was the signal for Lassi Tuovi's team to put together another 8-0 run that swung the match back in their favour with four minutes to play, as Utah Jazz star Lauri Markkanen and exciting young prospect Miikka Muurinen took centre stage.
Sweden, though, were not done yet, and when Hakanson stole the ball and raced away for a layup to close the gap to one point, there was still 01:34 still to play.
Finland were doing just enough from the free-throw line in the final minute and led by three with 9.1 seconds to play and Sweden receiving possession. Melwin Pantzar took the three-point attempt on to send us to overtime, but the ball did not drop, and Finland held on for a 93-90 victory.
Hakanson and Markkanen led the scoring charts with 28 points apiece. Markkanen also led on rebounds for his side with six, but was outdone by Simon Birgander with seven. Finland's Sasu Salin led the assists with seven, one more than Sweden's Viktor Gaddefors.
Earlier today in Group B, Lithuania beat Great Britain 94-70, before world champions Germany thrashed Montenegro 106-76.
Things do not get any easier for Sweden, as they take on Germany in their next match on Friday, before Finland face Great Britain later that afternoon.