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Group B, day 2: Greece vs Germany

  • Thread starter Thread starter rikhardur2
  • Start date Start date

Group B, day 2: Greece vs Germany

  • Total voters
    78
I think people have missed the point. Losing to Germany will change little - and losing to the US even less, at least regarding the actual group points/positioning. Psychology-wise it would be an utter catastrophe of course, but at this point either 3rd or 4th place makes little difference for Greece.

Even if they lose against Germany, USA, all they have to do is beat China and Angola. Should there not be some weird upset, Greece will advance as 4th.
 
Gyroscope said:
Psychology-wise it would be an utter catastrophe of course,
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And that's the point, Greece isn't like China or the Germans happy simply to advance they want medal if not get gold. If they advanced with only wins over Angola and China what kind of shape would they be in mentally to face Argentina, Russia, or Lithuania in the next round?

Granted this is all hypothetical and Greece will likely make it moot when they beat Germany, still it's why I feel it's must win.
 
I think that this game depends entirely on how the Greek NT will perform. Having said that, i dont think we will have a problem beating Germany either easily or not so easily...
 
Dtown said:
And that's the point, Greece isn't like China or the Germans happy simply to advance they want medal if not get gold. If they advanced with only wins over Angola and China what kind of shape would they be in mentally to face Argentina, Russia, or Lithuania in the next round?

Granted this is all hypothetical and Greece will likely make it moot when they beat Germany, still it's why I feel it's must win.
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Absolutely agree with you. It is a must win for the Greeks.

I also have the feeling that they will fight hard the US to steal the sec place.
 
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It's going to be an interesting game. The Greeks are going to be under alot of pressure to win. This is not the same German team of before. Kaman's presence has had quite a positive effect on the team. I think Greece though will win by a margin of 10-15 points.
 
tensai said:
probably this will be a close game. germany is not the same team, they are much more stronger with join of kaman but can that be a winning chance for them? i don't think so.. greece must win this match, imo they'll do that..
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Even though, Chris Kaman is ob board, there is a glaring hole at SF. Both, Zwiener and Wisocky are inexperienced at this level and not nearly physical enough as Okulaja is. They don't put the ball on the floor a lot, they're rather taking open shots. Roller is coming off a very good season, but he had better years and is getting old now. Same goes for Femerling. I'd say, they are most probably better under the basket now but are not that good on the perimeter.

Vasileios Spanoulis said:
Dirk can be taken out of games by guys like Diamantidis and Vasilopoulos. This is proven over and over in the NBA. Giannakis needs to realize this and try to employ such tactics, I would also try Printezis against him, rotating those 3 defenders on him. If you try to defend Dirk with bigs he will destroy any team.
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No chance for helpside defender Diamantidis to stop Nowitzki from scoring. No chance for Vassilopoulos to stop Dirk's drives and shots. Both players are not tall and physically not strong enough. Siamantidis, though, could make Dirk's life tougher by coming from the weakside to help out in the defense. But this would leave his man free and Dirk is tall enough to watch over players' heads and to kick the ball out. Also, that would leave Kaman with only one defender against him. Kaman's footwork is so good and he is tall and strong. I expect him not to have los of problems with Sofo and Bouroussis. Still, Greece has much better guards and Germany will have problems in structuring its game on offense, while it will also have problems with perimeter defense and Papaloukas' drives.
Greece is a favourite for me in that one but not as big a favourite as it has been since 2005.
 
Gyroscope said:
I think people have missed the point. Losing to Germany will change little - and losing to the US even less, at least regarding the actual group points/positioning. Psychology-wise it would be an utter catastrophe of course, but at this point either 3rd or 4th place makes little difference for Greece.

Even if they lose against Germany, USA, all they have to do is beat China and Angola. Should there not be some weird upset, Greece will advance as 4th.
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I don't think Greece wants any piece of Lithuania already in the quarterfinals.

I think Greece will beat Germany comfortably.
 
It could be a close game, i wouldn't be surprised if Dirk Nowitzky and co. win in this game
 
Vasileios Spanoulis said:
Dirk can be taken out of games by guys like Diamantidis and Vasilopoulos.
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Dirk can score 30+ if guarded by guys like Diamantidis and Vasilopoulos. In all their defensive excellence, they need a ladder to hinder Dirk's jumpers or fades. Not to mention his post moves.

Tsartsaris (primarily) and Fotsis will do the job imo (and maybe Prindezis, for a couple of minutes), with some help by the rotating defence, especially in the quickness and strength departments respectivelly. Trouble is that Dirk is an excellent passer, and the rotating D will create offensive boards opportunities for Germany.

Predictions:
1. GRE most used lineup: Papa-VSpan-Diama-Tsartsa-Bouroussis.
2. Kaman with 7+ offensive rebounds.
3. Greece by 10.
 
Homer Prediction: Greece with less than 10 T/O's and a win in double digits, already secured from the 2nd period

By the way, Greece is just on track. If the U.S. team doesnt appear much better than their game vs China from now on, then the Greeks can very well finish 2nd in the group and get a free ticket to the semis (and probably the final game)
 
Gyroscope said:
I just read from http://www.sport.gr/ that Big Sofo shaved his head :D
Let's see if THAT was the problem :eek:
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Well..I guess nothing can be worse than the hairdo he already had.lol
probably will make him look even more scary and fat.:P
 
The main problem for Greece is obviously the playmaking: since Giannakis still uses a lot as pg his Marousi's chick, Spanoulis, Greece will be able to face lots of problems. Most of all Germany is not at all a bunch of homelesses, but a team, with an absolute star and many lieutenants.
Greece can't play a fluid basketball because Spanoulis is the classical player who can't increase the efficiency of his team mates, since he can't understand who is on fire, who is not on fire, who has a strong defensive opponent, who has not a strong defensive opponent. I won't say that Spanoulis isn't even able to recognize if the other team plays man-to-man or zone defense, but I wouldn't be surprised at all.
A solution for Greece would be Nikos Zisis, who's a smart player and he doesn't play alone. But it seems that Giannakis prefers his Marousi's chick, so the future destiny for Greece, even with a win against Germany, will be the one of a car going at the maximum speed against a wall. An imagine that's not so different from the kind of basketball we are used to watch with Spanoulis. There's a wall, he can't see it. Crash.
 
Well, at least "only USA is the opponent for current Greece" good times is over now :p But i don't see any chances for Germany here. If Greeks won't be too dieharded and will play a simple basket in offense, they will beat Germany pretty easily. I still don't get it, how this team is in olympics while Slovenia is on vacation....absurd! Give a proper regard to Dirk and this game is over.
 
Straight forward said:
Well, at least "only USA is the opponent for current Greece" good times is over now :p But i don't see any chances for Germany here. If Greeks won't be too dieharded and will play a simple basket in offense, they will beat Germany pretty easily. I still don't get it, how this team is in olympics while Slovenia is on vacation....absurd! Give a proper regard to Dirk and this game is over.
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You should be careful, Lithuania might meet them in the 1/8 finals.
 
Big Lebowski said:
The main problem for Greece is obviously the playmaking: since Giannakis still uses a lot as pg his Marousi's chick, Spanoulis, Greece will be able to face lots of problems. Most of all Germany is not at all a bunch of homelesses, but a team, with an absolute star and many lieutenants.
Greece can't play a fluid basketball because Spanoulis is the classical player who can't increase the efficiency of his team mates, since he can't understand who is on fire, who is not on fire, who has a strong defensive opponent, who has not a strong defensive opponent. I won't say that Spanoulis isn't even able to recognize if the other team plays man-to-man or zone defense, but I wouldn't be surprised at all.
A solution for Greece would be Nikos Zisis, who's a smart player and he doesn't play alone. But it seems that Giannakis prefers his Marousi's chick, so the future destiny for Greece, even with a win against Germany, will be the one of a car going at the maximum speed against a wall. An imagine that's not so different from the kind of basketball we are used to watch with Spanoulis. There's a wall, he can't see it. Crash.
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The obvious solution would be then: put Spanouls at SG position and leave playmaking to Zisis or Diamantidis.
 
Victorious said:
You should be careful, Lithuania might meet them in the 1/8 finals.
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I realy hope so, though it wouldn't be a big surprise if that team would be China.
 
BlackAdder said:
The obvious solution would be then: put Spanouls at SG position and leave playmaking to Zisis or Diamantidis.
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Absolutely no, because Spanoulis is not a point-guard, but he can't even play in the spot #2, since he is not dangerous at all from long distance and, in general, he's not an important offensive player (let's not forget that Mr. Goat couldn't even reach the 50% from the field in the last Euroleague).
Being not a point-guard, being not an offensive player, being not a relevant defensive player too, his place can't be a Olympic tournament basketball game. His place should be another job, because this infamous player is simply a blasphemy against the Game).
 
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