2024-08-02 18:14:52
Pupils of Vassilis Spanoulis 77:71 (25:24, 26:12, 11:14, 21:15) defeated the Australian national team (1/2). After this victory, the Greeks secured the third place in the group and have a chance to reach the next stage as one of the two best third-placed teams. At the moment, the Greeks have a total +/- points ratio of -8, in Group B the Brazilian national team has a ratio of -7, so the Greeks need to look at the match in Group C, where the Serbian and South Sudan national teams will clarify the relationship (Serbian +/- is currently +15, and representatives of Africa -6).
Meanwhile, the Australians have to hope for a Canadian victory. If the Canadians win, Australia will remain second, and if they lose, the Oceania Olympiad will be over.
All teams’ playoff chances:
In the first part of the match, the Greeks dominated. The national team led by Giannis Antetokounmpo was in the lead from the very beginning of the match (25:24), but everything changed in the second half, when Vassilis Spanoulis’ students started to run away from their opponents even more.
In the second quarter, in the most important match of this summer, the Greek national team won even 26:12, which allowed them to lead by a solid difference of 15 points (51:36).
For most of the third quarter, the Greeks continued to lead with a similar margin that they had before the long break, but Matthew Dellavedova scored a three-pointer before the start of the decisive quarter, which allowed the Greeks to reduce their lead to 12 points (62:50).
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Dyson Daniels’ three-pointer cut the Greek lead to 7 points (67:60). Later, both teams scored points and another long shot was added by Patty Mills, which reduced the Greeks’ lead to just 4 (69:65), but then G. Antetokounmpo responded with a two-pointer and the Greeks led again by 6 points (71:65).
After that, the Australians scored four points in a row and the Greeks led by just 2 points (71:69). However, after that, the Greeks threw two long shots, the Australians scored a point, and V. Spanoulis’ students had a 7-point advantage (77:70) with a minute left. Nick Calathes later fouled Jock Landale, who hit one free throw to give Greece a 77-71 first win.
G. Antetokounmpo played phenomenally in the ranks of the Greeks. The forward scored 20 points (7/9 doubles, 1/2 triples, 3/7 penalties), grabbed 7 rebounds, distributed 6 assists and accumulated 26 utility points in 33 minutes. J
am was well assisted by former Žalgiris player Thomas Walkup. The defender gave up 18 points (3/7 doubles, 4/7 triples), added 3 rebounds and 3 assists for the Australians in 30 minutes and recorded a performance of 20 utility points.
The Australians were not saved by the solid performance of another ex-Zhalgari player, Jock Landale. In 28.5 minutes, the center scored 17 points (7/10 doubles, 3/8 penalties), had 8 rebounds and finished the game with 19 utility points.
2024-08-02 18:14:52