Greece lost 86-79 to Canada in its first Olympic basketball tournament.
Our representative group had a good image, they played with patience and determination, it’s just that the difference in capacity was big and the chances that were missed at critical points of the forty minutes were many. Like the one at the beginning of the fourth period when the difference was down to four (68-72), before Dort-Gilgeous-Alexander made a three-pointer, like the one at 78-80 with SGA making a crazy two-pointer as the defense had makes a shocking effort.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is amazing (34 points, 11/16 two-pointers, 12/15 shots), Kostas Papanikolaou is great, Walkap, Toliopoulos, Larentzakis are very wrong with Vassilis Spanoulis not finding a third support to put even more pressure on the Canadians of the 10 NBAers, the extreme dynamism that led to tension in the final and the speed.
Cy Gilgeous-Alexander (21 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists) and ARJ Barrett (23 points, 7/9 2-pointers, 1/4 3-pointers) were the leaders of the winners, but there were others who really helped Jordi Fernandez’s team . Lou Dort who was foul loaded but smothered Nick Calathes early on and Dillon Brooks who also had a wear problem.
The stats that stood out
Papanikolaou closed the first period with 3/3 three-pointers, with seven fouls closed by Canada, who shot 50%. At halftime fouls were 15-11 and shots 8-20, with Greece at -10 despite having just one less basket. At the end of the night the trio of Walkap, Toliopoulos, Larentzakis had 4/21 shots, with the result that the third player that Spanoulis was looking for in the attack was not found and Papanikolaou – Antetokounmpo (51 points from 16/25 shots and 16/20 shots ) to be left alone.
The race
The national team opened the match with Kalathis, Walkap, Papanikolaou, Antetokounmpo, Papagianni. Canada sent Dort to Calathes and Brooks to Giannis, with Greece having a major problem on offense but their star wearing down opponents and having 4/4 shooting for 7-11 in 4′. The 6-19 was somewhat scary, but after the first changes the team found a balance in defense and attack, reduced to two (22-24 at 9′) with amazing ball movement and showed that they will not go down without a fight.
Larentzakis’ trash talk to Dillon Brooks, at the beginning of the second period, was what the National Team needed to believe even more in their strengths, but Canada held the lead by a small margin. A long shot by Brooks made it 25-35 at 15′, but again Greece had a good response to cut it to five (34-39) with back court pressure and good partnerships up front. It’s just that every time the crowd got excited, the refs were there to spoil the momentum until 38-48 at halftime.
Canada came furiously into the second half and missed the score, but Giannis and Kalathis kept Greece alive (47-58) and worked together amazingly for the 50-58 goal-foul at 24′. Dort and Brooks reached four fouls and went to the bench early, but again at the end of the third period the Canadians were in control (60-68).
A three-pointer by Walkup (66-72) and two shots by Giannis (68-72) put even more pressure on Fernandez’s team, which raised the tension in the defense sharply and tried to at least survive it. Dort hit a huge shot for 68-75 at 35′, Gilgeous-Alexander hit another for 68-78 and as much as Greece fought, the match was decided with the best team of the night taking the result and making qualification step to the quarterfinals of the tournament.
THE REFEREES: Vazquez, Batista, Listska
THE DECADES: 22-26, 38-48, 60-68, 79-86
GREECE (Spanoulis): Walkup 5 (1/7 shots, 4 assists, 3 steals), Larentzakis 3 (1/6 3-pointers), Toliopoulos 9 (1/2 2-pointers, 1/5 3-pointers, 4/4 shots, 4 rebounds, 2 assists), Kalathis 3 (1 three-pointer, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 fouls), Kalaitzakis, Papagiannis 3 (1), Papanikolaou 17 (2/2 two-pointers, 3/6 three-pointers, 4/5 shots, 4 rebounds, 3 assist), Antetokounmpo 34 (11/16 2-pointers, 12/15 shots, 5 rebounds, 2 assists), Mitoglou 5 (1 3-pointer, 8 rebounds)
CANADA (Fernandez): Dort 8 (2), Alexander-Walker (0/4 3-pointers), Gilgeous-Alexander 21 (3/7 2-pointers, 2/3 3-pointers, 9/10 shots, 5 rebounds, 7 assists), Murray 8 (2/6 shooting), Powell 6 (4 rebounds), Lyles, Barrett 23 (7/9 2-pointers, 1/4 3-pointers, 6/6 shots, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Olynyk 4 (1/6 shots, 6 rebounds), Nemhardt 2, Brooks 14 (1/5 2-pointers, 3/4 3-pointers, 3/4 shots, 5 rebounds, 5 fouls), Birch
Greece’s team statistics: 14/27 2-pointers, 9/32 3-pointers, 24/32 shots, 33 rebounds (26 defensive – 7 offensive), 21 assists, 7 steals, 3 blocks, 12 errors, 25 fouls
Canada’s team stats: 17/33 2-pointers, 8/25 3-pointers, 28/32 shots, 37 rebounds (29 defensive – 8 offensive), 18 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks, 14 turnovers, 27 fouls
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