[1/4 finals - Day 1] Greece - Spain

[slice me nice]

With Gasol's epic dominant performances, Spain is trying to achieve their target. In today's game they were quite unimpressive until the last quarter but again their experience led them to win the game. Greece is playing so clever basketball and they overcame the role problems within team system. They look like a team who likes to share the ball. Great match up.

[bukefalos]

I said Spain.
If Greeks win, Antetokounmpo will be key of the game

[CoachZ]

Greeks should go light and try to play with 3 guards with Printz and Gianni at PF. There is noone that represents a mismatch at SF for Spain, that cna't defended by a G. No need to waste Giannis athleticism on Sf for defense when it will be more important for him to clean the boards and help out vs Mirotic at PF. Greece moves the ball much better with 3 G, and that will be key and it will be easier to run with Spain.

Giannis is a must to help clear the boards on defense vs Gasol, since that will be an issue. Control the boards and stay fresh with rotation at C and PF, these are the only positions that are scoring on a constant basis for Spain. Make Gasol play 30+ in full tempo, he will not be efficent, as with Serbia. The moment he is on the bench this Spain will be half a team.

And absolute must avoid the provocation and flopping bait of Spain. Greeks are very fiery tempered and Spain will work on that. Bourousis will get a lot of Elbows from Gasol, Rudy will provoke anyone who comes close especially Gianni. Llull will spend more time on his back than on his feet. Don't get into that mind thing with them. Greece always loses that battle, proved it many times vs both Yugo-Serbia teams and Spain. Hustle, run at them with attitude, and it will be GG Greece.

[GreenFan]

A classic. This is the first match I remember that Greece has a better team. However, Spain has the best player and the tradition with them. I expect a really tight and difficult match. The key factor will be the performance of Spain's guards, imho. If they let Pau play alone again, Greece will take this. From the greek side, the keys are Spanoulis, who against spaniards he is playing his best games, and Giannis' role in the match.

Can't wait to watch this game. This is what we, Greeks, were expecting after all those years. A chance to beat one great bb rival and be one match away from a medal!

[Raz]

CoachZ,this is exactly what I was discussing with some friends the other day.Spain isn't an oversized team,so the 3 guard scheme should work.I think it would be sensible to employ it for the most part of the game.Greece has the quality,depth and guard rotation to do so.

[INTEGRAL]

Lock down Llull and the game is yours.

I want the neighbor win.

[Oly_fan]

CoachZ,this is exactly what I was discussing with some friends the other day.Spain isn't an oversized team,so the 3 guard scheme should work.I think it would be sensible to employ it for the most part of the game.Greece has the quality,depth and guard rotation to do so.

I think the +/- stat for Greece playing with 3 guards should be quite interesting. Going to 3 guards seems to have won every game so far.

Antetokounmpo has probably marked Gasol in Bucks-Bulls games, does anyone know how it worked out?

[Navarro #7]

This time our Greek fellows have reasons to be optimistic more than ever. A match between a solid Greece against a random Spain is not a good new for my NT. Perhaps these hard victories Spain got can strengthen sometimes, but I see them as a weakness.

[fasoulaki]

Sorry I lost any hopes on a greek victory over Spain in the K.O. stage long time ago. Our victory in the 2nd group stage of Eurobasket2013 was mainly driven by strange referee decisions which were aiming to keep Greece in the tournament after the loss against Finnland.

To win against Spain, Greece would need to play focused for 40 minutes which they have not shown even once in this tournament. Greeks play one, two or three good quarters the most. The play always at least one crappy quarter. One crappy quarter is enough to give the victory to Spain.

Greece will have a classic start with 6 missed easy layups from our center then at least two turn over and one brick by Spanoulis while Gasol will have a party under the greek rim. Zissis will catch up with some midrange jumper and a three. Greeks will fight back and equalize the score but then the Rudy show starts where he slaps every successfull greek 3 point shooter which leads to a psychological greek breakdown. At the end Spain prevails and plays the semifinal.

[klakis]

A lot will be decided on the fouls given to the two centers of Greece. Both gasol and Reyes can play smart and win fouls from our centers and then there is no way we can stop Gasol from scoring as many points as it takes to win.if both our centers have 2 fouls on first half then we are in trouble.Maybe Kai can be proved useful making a some hard fouls and sacrificing himself. We will see I am not very optimistic about Greece . I hope i will be proved wrong.

[HeinrichMohr]

We all know that this Spanish team is not one but two steps behind of what they used to be. Not only because of the missing players but because some are getting old and the team is not solid. The truth is that's not something new, we can look back at the magnificent first round in 2009 with Scariolo or other important defeats like the last two in KO rounds against France. They are offensively dangerous if they are inspired but their defense is quite poor and depends on certain moments of good concentration.. then the talented players do the rest. That's precisely why Greece is favourite for this game. You need to play solid, you need to be mentally strong and you need to adapt yourself to every issue in the game, though i admit that it's not the same to count with Scariolo than Orenga.

Other user here was commenting about the "3" position issue and that's why we miss Carlos Jiménez a lot. He was serious, laid-back, hard-worker and smart. Unfortunately, the closest thing to a "3" that we got is Claver, who lacks the blood to play that role. So Spain must play with the best they got in the perimeter position, and the best are players that are offensively talented and it's true that they are defensively agile but not physically strong.

And yes, Pau is 50% of this team right now and when he's not on the court, the team will suffer.

[aenaon]

A lot will be decided on the fouls given to the two centers of Greece. Both gasol and Reyes can play smart and win fouls from our centers and then there is no way we can stop Gasol from scoring as many points as it takes to win.if both our centers have 2 fouls on first half then we are in trouble.Maybe Kai can be proved useful making a some hard fouls and sacrificing himself. We will see I am not very optimistic about Greece . I hope i will be proved wrong.

We could try to use span sloukas and printezis to target one of them, I would say reyes, as soon as he enters the game.

A lot will be decided on what kind of defence the refs will allow.

[aenaon]

We all know that this Spanish team is not one but two steps behind of what they used to be. Not only because of the missing players but because some are getting old and the team is not solid.

This is true, this Spain is not the same, a lot is missing, not just players. We on the other hand are full, one of the best Greek NTs ever. Normally we should be thinking in blowout terms, but then again, recent history is not so good for us

[MaccabiTA]

I don't have any special or deep insights, just here to say I hope the the Greeks would kick their spoiled Spanish asses and make sure they leave some marks and bruises in the process.

[Navarro #7]

Sorry I lost any hopes on a greek victory over Spain in the K.O. stage long time ago. Our victory in the 2nd group stage of Eurobasket2013 was mainly driven by strange referee decisions which were aiming to keep Greece in the tournament after the loss against Finnland.

To win against Spain, Greece would need to play focused for 40 minutes which they have not shown even once in this tournament. Greeks play one, two or three good quarters the most. The play always at least one crappy quarter. One crappy quarter is enough to give the victory to Spain.

Greece will have a classic start with 6 missed easy layups from our center then at least two turn over and one brick by Spanoulis while Gasol will have a party under the greek rim. Zissis will catch up with some midrange jumper and a three. Greeks will fight back and equalize the score but then the Rudy show starts where he slaps every successfull greek 3 point shooter which leads to a psychological greek breakdown. At the end Spain prevails and plays the semifinal.

And the numbers of lottery? I would like your prediction to be true, but is too good. Rudy possibly won't play, and Spain doesn't play 40 good minutes, for example.