Vasilis Spanoulis suffered his first defeat as the head coach of the National team, as Greece could not succeed against Serbia (94-72) in their last friendly before the 2024 Olympic Games, gaining useful insights.
Greece experienced a friendly defeat of 94-72 against Serbia in Belgrade, just a few days before the start of the 2024 Olympic Games and the match against Canada (27/7, 22:00). This was, in fact, the first negative result for the National team since Vasilis Spanoulis took over, as until now they had a record of 10/10 wins. This result could provide several useful insights ahead of their official commitments on French soil.
Our representative team exhibited problems both in offense – particularly in the absence of the team’s main playmaker, Nick Calathes – as well as in defense, losing the rebounding battle (37 to 22).
Giannis Antetokounmpo, who did not play in the previous friendly against Puerto Rico in Thessaloniki due to an illness, was Greece’s top scorer with 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists in 24’46” minutes of play. He was followed by Kostas Papanikolaou, who scored 10 points.
From Serbia, Bogdan Bogdanovic was outstanding, scoring 19 points with 5/5 three-pointers, as well as Nikola Jokic, who contributed 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists, also committing 3 turnovers. Filip Petrusev flirted with a double-double, counting 15 points and 8 rebounds.
The Match
Greece started with Walkup, Toliopoulos, Papanikolaou, Antetokounmpo, and Papagiannis, taking 3’30” to score their first basket after 5 unsuccessful attempts. Serbia had the upper hand throughout the period. Pesic’s team reached +10 (23-13) at 8′, a margin that the National team cut in half (26-21, 10′) by the end of the quarter.
The hosts extended their lead again (34-25) until the middle of the second period, at which point Spanoulis and Pesic both received a technical foul. The halftime found Greece down by 9 (48-39, 20′), with low shooting percentages (9/19 two-pointers, 47%, and 5/14 three-pointers, 36%) and Antetokounmpo being the only player in double digits (11 points, 4 rebounds). Conversely, Bogdanovic had 10 points, Petrusev 9 points, Jokic 8 points, 7 rebounds, and Avramovic 6 points, 5 assists.
Pesic’s team started the third period with momentum, hitting 5/6 three-pointers and further increasing their lead (72-58, 30′). The poor offensive performance of Greece had an immediate impact on their defense, resulting in our representative team suffering defeat in their last match before the 2024 Olympic Games.
THE QUARTERS: 26-21, 48-39, 72-58, 94-72
SERBIA (Pesic): Plavcic 2, Petrusev 15 (3/5 two-pointers, 2/2 three-pointers, 3/6 free throws, 8 rebounds), Jovic 10 (1), Bogdanovic 19 (5/5 three-pointers), Marinkovic 2, Dobric 7 (1), Jokic 16 (4/7 two-pointers, 1/3 three-pointers, 5/6 free throws, 8 rebounds, 6 assists), Micic 4, Guduric 2 (1/6 shooting, 5 assists), Avramovic 6 (8 assists), Milutinov 11.
GREECE (Spanoulis): Walkup 7 (2/6 two-pointers, 1/4 three-pointers, 4 assists), Lountzis, Larentzakis 6 (2), Moraitis 8 (1), Toliopoulos 4 (0/3 three-pointers), Kalaitzakis 5, Papagiannis 6, Charalampopoulos 2, Papanikolaou 10 (2), Houga 2, Antetokounmpo 17 (7/12 two-pointers, 3/7 free throws, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), Mitoglou 5 (1/6 two-pointers, 1/5 three-pointers, 3 steals).
Serbia’s team statistics: 19/33 two-pointers, 12/27 three-pointers, 20/25 free throws, 37 rebounds (10 offensive – 27 defensive), 30 assists, 5 steals, 14 turnovers, 4 blocks
Greece’s team statistics: 17/35 two-pointers, 9/26 three-pointers, 9/14 free throws, 22 rebounds (6 offensive – 16 defensive), 19 assists, 8 steals, 14 turnovers, 1 block