Group C, Day 4, Greece Vs Turkey

[g.g]

IMO this is the hardest game in the tournament so far.

The Greeks have the tradition on their side but history don't put the shots in!
For the first two days of the tournament, Greece did not play well. Especially against the zone defence. It had no flair, open shots were not getting in, no speedy counter attacks, most worryingly the famous Greek defence was simply not there. Always half a step too slow. As the Greek TV commentator noted "They seem not to commit the energy required"!.
Despite all that Greece won both games and has shown once more bags of character over the last crucial minutes against PR. A sign of big team to win even when play bad! Many people believe that this team would get better day by day. Long shots would get in more often with Fotsis while Sofo has his way to destroy any competition in the low post.

But can Greece win Turkey? The hosts, without playing good bb themselves managed to outclass their opponents so far. Their secret lies in superb defence that chocks the will of any team against them. Turkey simply has learned to play "Greek School" defence at its best. It has master it!
The problem for Turkey this year, as many of their fans in this forum have noticed is the offence. Something is wrong there. Turkey however has the quality to be very affective. So what is wrong? As a friend of mine said yesterday; Turkey commits so much on defence that leaves little for anything else. Offence becomes secondary.
Pretty much the same deadlock that the Greeks had to face for many years.
The truth is that defence can win most games and some medals. But, against some class teams defence on its own is not enough. Can Turkey raise the game?

Looking forward for your votes!

[Kalashnikov]

I can really see this becoming a veeeery long thread

Turkey this time has an advantage. Playing home, having a solid team, NOT focusing on Turkoglu...

But Turkey hasn't got world class guards. If Kalathes, Diamantidis put enough pressure on the Turkish PGs, we could be seeing a totally different game here...

[christodoulou76]

standings significance

With Spain losing to France, the significance of the game between Turkey and Greece is even greater. Before, losing to Turkey meant that we could still finish in 3rd place (by losing to Russia) and still avoid the USA and Spain until the finals. But now, 2nd place leads to a QF against USA and 3rd place leads to a 1/8 final against Spain. In other words, only 1st place is a good finish in this group for a team with the objective of making it to the medal round. The winner of this game will have a great chance to get a medal, the loser will have a very difficult time making it to the semifinals.

[chrisfiss]

if we dont improve our defense i believe we will lose. We seem to be struggling against zone press and the turkish team is good in this defensive style. Having said that I must also outline that although we seemed to struggle against the zone press, we still managed to score 89 and 83 points which is very good, especially for a greek team. So our main focus should be: defense defense defense.

[g.g]

if we dont improve our defense i believe we will lose. We seem to be struggling against zone press and the turkish team is good in this defensive style. Having said that I must also outline that although we seemed to struggle against the zone press, we still managed to score 89 and 83 points which is very good, especially for a greek team. So our main focus should be: defense defense defense.

Spot on !!!

[fibafan]

I think it will be really difficult for both teams. I see a small score here, probably less than 70 points and a difference range of points of less than 10 points. Greece had some trouble against China and Puerto Rico but they showed they are a big team by finally winning both games. Turkey thrashed Ivory Coast and also won Russia in a very important game.

Turkey is the host team, the fans in the stadium always whistle to the Greek players sadly so Greece will have to be very strong to win this game and I think they will do.

My bet is that Greece will win with a small range of points.

[Victorious]

During the preperations Kazlauskas has carved a team which can make a lot of points against good defensive teams. However, ever since the game against Serbia this system is not working for Greece. Their confidence, or should I say momentum, is somehow shattered. Maybe the presence of Sofo and Fotsis will help Greece rebuild their confidence.

On the other hand we have a highly motivated Turkish team with a lot of ambitions. As someone mentioned, it reminds me of the defensive Greek NT of the Giannakis era. But Greece changed this system precisely because it wasn't enough against the elite offensive teams like Spain, USA, Argentina.

So, the way I see it, the winner will be the team which can manage to control tempo of the game.

[nikolaos]

Easy win for Greece. Turkey didn't convince me with Russia, they played really bad

Baby Shaq is back and he will destroy the Turkish players

btw shouldnt this be day 4?

[toxmarius]

It's a day four game not day three i was searching for links already to watch that game and couldn't find any, was becoming frustrated

[Perseus]

the "friendlies" Greece would win 30 pts ,now i am not sure ,what happened to them? they are two gears down ,even in this condition we can fight the Turks ,the point is even if we beat them playing this way take us nowhere.

[Alvertis4]

it will be tough.... turks will create a terror site for our players

[g.g]

It's a day four game not day three i was searching for links already to watch that game and couldn't find any, was becoming frustrated

oups, sorry guys

[nikolaos]

it will be tough.... turks will create a terror site for our players

true, though our players are really used to all this stuff, for example Spanoulis, yesterday he was like so calm, like there was no one else inside, everyone was "boo"ing him and he didn't care at all

[buzz]

not to mention that the day that we will play against turks they celebrate the destruction of greek army and smyrna...it will be really tough for greek players to handle the air of nationalism which surely will meet.

[kyosphere]

not to mention that the day that we will play against turks they celebrate the destruction of greek army and smyrna...it will be really tough for greek players to handle the air of nationalism which surely will meet.

the day you mention is today...not tomorrow