Well this was just hilarious. I was so much waiting for this to happen. Crappy Greece got away with it in the first two games, but thank you Turkey so much for teaching the greeks a lesson.
I quote myself from May:
Picking Zissis over Vassiliadis in this roster was just the biggest mistake a coach can make. And no i will not just let it go. I don't know if Kazlauskas is a puppet or not, but this choice was just catastrophic. And it is proven by Greece's opponents playing over 100' of 120' zone defense so far.
Now say Kazlauskas was indeed forced to take Zissis. He must have expected to face some zone at some point. How was he planning to face it? by shooting three's with inconsistent players and by putting Sofo in the paint? Well the first proved irregular and sofo is too foul prone and sucks in freethrows. All the opponents have to do is put a couple of disponsible bigs on him and it is only a matter of time before he tires/fouls out while missing most of his freethrows. Did you watch any other plan to break a zone? No. Thus picking Zissis was a mistake.
Many may argue that Zissis was great in the first game and if it wasn't for him Greece would have lost. BULL-SHIT! If Greece has Vassiliadis instead of Zissis, opponents won't play zone as much and Greece wins by 30.
Many say that Spanoulis is the leader of this team. BULL-SHIT! Just because he hogged the ball when the Riquenos had to foul so he took all the fouls, in a game that Greece should have won by 20 with Vassiliadis instead of Zissis, that does not make him a leader.
So what did the leader Spanoulis do yesterday in the most important game for Greece? in 29' he had 5 points with 1/1 2p, 1/5 3p, 0/2 ft, 1 reb, 3 ass, 1 pf, 2 to, 2 st...amazing!
And the absolutely necessary Zissis? in 19' he had 3 points 1/5 3p, 3 reb, 3 ass, 4 pf, 1 st...great!
Meanwhile Greece was playing nice bball with Calathes and Diamantidis in, but they were 33-34 behind and Tanjevic got a timeout, for some reason Kazlauskas pulled Calathes out and put Spanoulis in and shortly after Zissis too. Result? 33-41. And Calathes didn't enter the game again until midway in the 4th quarter. Result when he came in? Greece cuts the margin from -17 to -8. Yet it is Zissis that enjoys the playing time and trust...
And so Kazlauskas made the mistake of picking Zissis instead of Vassiliadis, he didn't prepare his team for zone defenses and made Spanoulis the leader of this team. As a result, he struggled against way inferior teams like China and Puerto Rico and lost pants-down to Turkey. But the most amazing thing is that team Greece, a team that was always defense-oriented, cashed in 81 points by China, 80 by Puerto Rico and 76 by Turkey!!!! In other words puppet or not Kazlauskas managed to dismantle this team's biggest weapon while doing nothing in other areas. Hilarious.
And as I said this tournament should have been a tournament of rebuilding for the greek team. give time to youngsters so they will be ready when it matters. You cannot rebuild during a Eurobasket since there are WC and OG qualifications at stake. So what better time than this year? But no, instead the federation wanted to go for medals and now they just failed at both. Congrats...
Also congrats to Turkey (not ironic ones though). Tanjevic has made a solid and well-thought team. They may not face very tough competition till the final game (not taking away anything from them), and there with the crowd boosting them, they may even go all the way. I'll be rooting for Turkey for the title after Germany is eliminated.
Goodbye and goodnight sucking Greece
I quote myself from May:
As for you guys insisting on Zisis...well, he hasn't played decent bball since benetton, he was pure and utter crap in the last EC, he's had a really terrible season with siena and honestly i don't see any reason at all to include such a player in the NT when there is vasiliadis with his marvelous season in the ACB and youngsters like calathes or pappas.
In any case if Zisis and/or Vasilopoulos are in the final roster, i will definitely root for another team (Germany)
again: zisis, vasilopoulos suck interstellar time. of course none of my picks is based on stats. those two are just mediocre at best players. open your eyes and don't be fixed to the standards media provides you.
Now say Kazlauskas was indeed forced to take Zissis. He must have expected to face some zone at some point. How was he planning to face it? by shooting three's with inconsistent players and by putting Sofo in the paint? Well the first proved irregular and sofo is too foul prone and sucks in freethrows. All the opponents have to do is put a couple of disponsible bigs on him and it is only a matter of time before he tires/fouls out while missing most of his freethrows. Did you watch any other plan to break a zone? No. Thus picking Zissis was a mistake.
Many may argue that Zissis was great in the first game and if it wasn't for him Greece would have lost. BULL-SHIT! If Greece has Vassiliadis instead of Zissis, opponents won't play zone as much and Greece wins by 30.
Many say that Spanoulis is the leader of this team. BULL-SHIT! Just because he hogged the ball when the Riquenos had to foul so he took all the fouls, in a game that Greece should have won by 20 with Vassiliadis instead of Zissis, that does not make him a leader.
So what did the leader Spanoulis do yesterday in the most important game for Greece? in 29' he had 5 points with 1/1 2p, 1/5 3p, 0/2 ft, 1 reb, 3 ass, 1 pf, 2 to, 2 st...amazing!
And the absolutely necessary Zissis? in 19' he had 3 points 1/5 3p, 3 reb, 3 ass, 4 pf, 1 st...great!
Meanwhile Greece was playing nice bball with Calathes and Diamantidis in, but they were 33-34 behind and Tanjevic got a timeout, for some reason Kazlauskas pulled Calathes out and put Spanoulis in and shortly after Zissis too. Result? 33-41. And Calathes didn't enter the game again until midway in the 4th quarter. Result when he came in? Greece cuts the margin from -17 to -8. Yet it is Zissis that enjoys the playing time and trust...
And so Kazlauskas made the mistake of picking Zissis instead of Vassiliadis, he didn't prepare his team for zone defenses and made Spanoulis the leader of this team. As a result, he struggled against way inferior teams like China and Puerto Rico and lost pants-down to Turkey. But the most amazing thing is that team Greece, a team that was always defense-oriented, cashed in 81 points by China, 80 by Puerto Rico and 76 by Turkey!!!! In other words puppet or not Kazlauskas managed to dismantle this team's biggest weapon while doing nothing in other areas. Hilarious.
And as I said this tournament should have been a tournament of rebuilding for the greek team. give time to youngsters so they will be ready when it matters. You cannot rebuild during a Eurobasket since there are WC and OG qualifications at stake. So what better time than this year? But no, instead the federation wanted to go for medals and now they just failed at both. Congrats...
Also congrats to Turkey (not ironic ones though). Tanjevic has made a solid and well-thought team. They may not face very tough competition till the final game (not taking away anything from them), and there with the crowd boosting them, they may even go all the way. I'll be rooting for Turkey for the title after Germany is eliminated.
Goodbye and goodnight sucking Greece
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