The Greek National Team thread

[Nightfall]

.......basketball.exe not found
We forgot how to basketball

[Pachinko_]

is Sloukas squeezing his balls?

[greekbuck34]

Greece has done the unthinkable one more time.

The game I just witnessed tonight was a true miracle.

Greece knocked out the clear favorite Lithuania and qualified to the quarter finals!!

Sloukas, Calathes and Papanikolaou had one of their best games with the NT.
Bouroussis somehow woke up in the second half and daddydicked Valanciunas the moment we needed to score a few points to finish them.

Sloukas was unreal. Exactly the pointguard Giannis needs on his lineup.
Speed, passing/lobs, excellent shooting after dribble and PnR ability.

Everybody, myself included, was waiting Lithuania to murder our terrible defense especially in our paint and yet we managed to hold even with Papagiannis, who was excellent against Valanciunas, getting the 5th fouls early in the 4th quarter.

Now we will face one of Croatia and Russia.

Edit:@ Mirotic12/Euroleague
Sloukas was prime-Spanoulis for two massive games in a row ..

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[Prez]

Greece is paying the severe consequences of forcing Spanoulis out of the national team to appease Panathinaikos' owner and its fans. Huge mistake. Mantazris, Calathes, Sloukas, Pappas combined together are not half as good as Spanoulis.

So many comments here from Greeks about how Sloukas could take Spanoulis' role and lead the national team...........yeah sure.

We have seen Calathes, Sloukas, and Pappas each trying to be Spanoulis, and it's an absolute comedy.

[Pachinko_]

We're back from the dead

[Magic Giannison]

Our guys decided to wake up and finally show what they are capable of.

I always knew that we can do crazy things and beat anyone even if we are at our worst, i hvae seen so many crazy comebacks our team did in the past that im not surprised at all of us winning against Lithuania.

Congrats for our guys, thats major victory.

[Pachinko_]

I'd really, really, really love to abuse Croatia if possible
I've been holding out since last summer.

[higharc]

Last night the Greek National Team had a nice victory over Serbia, our nemesis, for the World Cup qualifiers. No Jokic or Teodosic but Bogdanovic was present.

With this win it is almost certain that Greece will qualify.

Watching the game yesterday, it occurred to me that if Giannis plays next year, it will be a very fun team to watch.
At the moment the team consists of 6-8 starter quality players and a couple more spark plug bench units. No one from these 6-8 is a star. They all look like role players with limited offencive moves, but defend hard. The good stuff is that all of them are decent shooters, even our veteran center, and can provide spacing (over the first 3qs they had >50% 3p shooting to end the game at 42%) . The guards can also push the pace when tactics command it.
Giannis fit would be great, unlocking the opponents offence and creating easy looks. Defensively they all try at the same level as Giannis anyway, so my guess is he will enjoy the shared mentality.

[imithanos]

Let's not kid ourselves. This is the worst Greek NT I remember these last 25 years. The moment Printezis gets too old and unproductive we will just have players who defend and aren't good shooters. At least not proven and reliable shooters.
This NT reminds me Kidd's Bucks. The players may try 3p in a higher volume, but the whole offense seems outdated. It's all about defense.
Hopefully I'll be proven wrong and Giannis gets a real chance to shine in an international level.

[higharc]

Both things can be true.

I am optimistic about the fit and potential of the team WITH Giannis.
I am also pessimistic if we go to the world cup without him.

[Beorn]

We have 2 (two) ballhandlers, 1 good SF, 1 good PF and 1 good C apart from Giannis. From these players, only Calathes and Papanikolaou are above average defenders, and only Sloukas is a consistently good shooter. Our depth in the paint is atrocious, and our backup guards/forwards can't defend, shoot or setup others. Great indeed

[higharc]

Another win today against Georgia (away game in a loud arena).
Bourousis, Prindezis and Mantzaris were absent/injured.

The team showed up without energy and effort (sic) and trailed by up to 17 points.
Thanasis had 4 blocks and defended well.
Coach put in a (very) small ball lineup and they achieved to cut down the deficit, in spite of some unfavorable calls by the refs. Georgian players made mistakes and stupid defence (no foul when they were instructed to give one in order to stop transition), so we stole a W in the very last second.
With this win Greece is officially in the world cup.

I remain optimistic, but I am always optimistic, even for the Bucks...

My understanding is that if everyone buys in the starting lineup is:
Sloukas
Kalathes
Papanikolaou
Giannis
Bourousis

Second unit-rotation guys:
Mantzaris
Papapetrou
Thanasis
Prindezis
Koufos (as Papagiannis is too slow)
End of the bench: Vasilopoulos, Dorsey, Mitoglou etc

Come on now. Even pessimists have to admit this will be a FUN team to watch!
They may not win a medal, but I will enjoy every minute.

Now, if the NBAers don't come (mostly Giannis), then it is a completely different discussion...

[Beorn]

^this 2nd unit will give strokes to a lot of spectators, an average kidergarden team has better ballhandling, passing and shooting

We won today because Kalathes had the game of his life from behind the arc, 31pts on 7/11 3pt. We got bullied below the rims, as Shengelia was stronger, faster, taller and more skilled than anyone we have apart from Giannis, and Papagiannis showed why he got cut by the Kings, he was so terrible that we had to put in some 6'8" 35yo combo forwards who play for PAOK and Peristeri to guard their 7-footers. Our depth is horrible in general (we missed 50% of our good players), and combined with the lopsided officiating we were extremely lucky to get away with the win

[higharc]

^this 2nd unit will give strokes to a lot of spectators, an average kidergarden team has better ballhandling, passing and shooting

True, that's why I wrote "second unit- rotation guys" as I wouldn't have them together as a true 2nd unit, just stagger Sloukas-Kalathes-Giannis minutes, keeping one of them always on the court.

[Pachinko_]

Why wouldnt we start Dorsey?

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[higharc]

Did you watch the games; Coach gave him plenty of minutes but he had abysmal shooting and bad defence (not so much his effort, but he lacked awareness or adaptation to the defensive system). Maybe one more NBA year will fix these. Until then we cannot count on him being anything more than 4th guard in line.

[Pachinko_]

No I didn't but it doesnt matter, we need a proper SG even if it takes him a while to catch up and an able body on defense.
Calathes is not a SG

[Beorn]

we need literally anything that has 2 legs and can dribble the ball, at the moment our 3rd option at the G spots is Mantzaris

[AussieBuck]

Why wouldnt we start Dorsey?

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Needs to work on his bald spot

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[har13]

Another win today against Georgia (away game in a loud arena).
Bourousis, Prindezis and Mantzaris were absent/injured.


Sloukas
Kalathes
Papanikolaou
Giannis
Bourousis

Printezis will start with Bourousis and Calathes, one of Sloukas or Pap will be the 6th man, if Koufos is not in the team then i'm 90% sure Giannis will play most of his mins at 5.
I was never a big fan of Calathes but yesterday he was out of this world, that pass with a sec to play was what impressed me more than his 31 points and 7 3s.

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