Group B, day 2: Greece vs Germany

[Trifilli]

This greek team will always have an advantage over this german one. The reason is the perimeter players. The game in Europe starts from them so when the quality difference is big like in this case, the best perimeter team can control the game easier. Nowitzki doesn't have as much help as he needs when he is double-teamed, so he isn't allowed 2 have the impact he can on the game.
I think Greece has played against a non-suitable opponent(Spain) and against a suitable one(Germany). In both games the point margin doesn't show exactly the difference between the teams.
Now I'm looking forward 2 the game vs USA while Germany will probably get the 4th place and face Lithuania(unless Croatia surprise us once more).

+1

Germany seems to be the most suitable matchup out of all teams for Greece, their perimeter play just is too bad, they'd need a perfect game to win.
Spain on the other hand is one of the worst possible matchups for Greece, together with Lithuania (although I rate Spain more difficult).

But the next important impressions will come from the game vs. the US. Our goal in this Olympics is a medal, at best the gold. To achieve this goal we have to be able to compete with the best. We can't afford to lose all these games against our main competition, for psychology reasons, at least imho.

I'm still not positive on our game vs. a zone, the germans were no matchup there today, as their zone is not even close to the spanish one. Imo we played too much run & gun in the preparation + the preolympic, instead of preparing more set plays. I hope that the team won't pay for this in the big games.

The perimeter defense wasn't great either today, although one must say that we always start slow into tournaments and there's still time for improvement.

At least Glyniadakis played today, we need a big body in the zone and a lowpost presence, and since Sofo can't help, we need Glyniadakis. Maybe he'd have helped vs. Spain as well.

Overall we're still a top team, but for winning a medal (much more for the gold) a lot of improvement is needed. And I'm still pessimistic about our chances to win this tourney, until I see this improvement and a development, at best vs. the US.

 

[goga78]

I've been bashed endlessly here for saying how good he is. Like I always said, in the end I will be the one laughing.

BTW, he has won a European Championship and a couple of Greek doubles and even a under-20 European Championship if you want to count that. I would not say he has "not won anything".

Yeah, an EBC, barely playing and scoring 3 ppg. Greek doubles? While his team had competition only from one other team which was not up to the proper level a couple of years ago.
A Junior title? Yes, this one is in his collection but lots of players have such titles, also Fridzon, Shabalkin and Co.
In any case, he hasn't won anything serious and his stats aren't Drazen-Petrovic-like (heck, not even Vujanic before his injury). He may be a very good player, who doesn't have a proper "middle line" in his game however - he either hurts or saves his team - but calling him best in Europe regardless of position, that's a far stretch. Anyway, we've had this discussion before. Right now, you didn't have anything to laugh at the end with Spanoulis the past two basketball summers/seasons. Maybe, this time Greece is really going for a medal. But the competition is stiff.

 

[fasoulaki]

But what is going on with Printezis???? Is he suppose to be a kind of secret weapon???

... we need Glyniadakis. Maybe he'd have helped vs. Spain as well...

I am not sure how to think about the use of players by Giannakis. Sometimes I think he does no trust the new ones, sometimes I think he might have a clear strategy about this issues.

I remember in the WC06 I was wondering all the time why Giannakis did not use Dikoudis against China. Also in the the group stage Dikoudis got less play time than usual.

But it in the game against the USA Dikoudis came from the bench offering some valuable minutes and valuable points. So maybe he wanted to keep Dikoudis out of sight of the scouters?!?!

Now in this tournament I have the same feeling regarding Printezis. First because he plays on the same position as Dikoudis and second because there is no other logical reason for not letting him play!

Regarding Glyniadakis I think that Giannakis reacted on the statement of Bauermann that Papadpoulos is missing and Germany now has Kaman so the weak spot of the greek team may be under the basket.

 

[Vasileios Spanoulis]

That lob play with Spanoulis and Printezis looked really nice.

 

[Turkish Airlines Euroleague]

Nice game for Greece! I hope we will play much more better versus USA though!

That lob play with Spanoulis and Printezis looked really nice.

And the one with V-Span and Vassilopoulos was awesome too...

 

[Vasileios Spanoulis]

Nice game for Greece! I hope we will play much more better versus USA though!



And the one with V-Span and Vassilopoulos was awesome too...

Yeah that was sweet.

 

[C-ka]

Like I always said, in the end I will be the one laughing.

Just as you were when Pao didn't even make it to the EL 1/4F... you find one or another guy, who partially agrees with you, and call it your own triumph? haha good for you.

"I DON"T CARE WHAT OTHERS SAY SHUT UP NANANA GUSTAS THE BEST PLAYER OF ALL TIMES PERIOD!!!!"

 

[Fedfan]

This time of games is killing me!!! I only saw a little bit of the fourth,and fortunately all the Cassandras here and in the media were proved wrong.Hopefully now the spirits will have calmed down and if we lose against USA next game,there will be no suicides.

 

[Gyroscope]

Hopefully now the spirits will have calmed down and if we lose against USA next game,there will be no suicides.

Guess what would be the apotheosis of irony. To win the game against Team USA and lose against China

 

[rikhardur]

Congrats to Greece, a really important win for them. I somehow expected it wouldn't be so easy for them, but Kaman just didn't show up and Nowitzki was well defended from what I heard. Wish I could have watched the game.

 

[greek-legacy]

Greece played well today against Germany after an awful first match with Spain. Now the next game against the U.S, I am sure that Greece will appear much better than the game with Spain, because they will play without complex, since nobody expects from them to win.The game with Germany was as expected. Easy win, because Germany has only 2 players.Greece has a variety of players, that is a huge advantage for every game.

 

[sportingara]

Guess what would be the apotheosis of irony. To win the game against Team USA and lose against China

I wouldn't be surprised if we lose to China, actually I find it more likely than beating the USA.

 

[EverGreen]

Yeah, It was a good win but I really cant get excited about it until we beat a team which is equal or better than us.