The Greek National Team thread

AussieBuck · Post #1621 » by **AussieBuck** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 4:11 pm

See y'all in a couple hours

Serge28 · Post #1622 » by **Serge28** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 6:34 pm

Kostas with 4 blocks already. As of middle of 2nd quarter.

AussieBuck · Post #1623 » by **AussieBuck** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 6:49 pm

Serge28 wrote:Kostas with 4 blocks already. As of middle of 2nd quarter.

I think he's finally ready.

CharityStripe34 · Post #1624 » by **CharityStripe34** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 6:51 pm

Kostas was great on defense next to Giannis, they both completely locked out the paint. Mitoglou is having trouble keeping Valanciunas off his spots. Giannis is having a good game but missed a couple of bunnies randomly. Greece is playing excellent defensively but the lead should be higher, though Lithuania's transition defense has been solid. The three-point shooting has been steady thankfully.

Big issue, though, is while Dorsey and Sloukas are good shooting threats and can score, Lithuania's guards are playing tough D and Sloukas has shown his age a bit.

Should be a fun second half.

AussieBuck · Post #1625 » by **AussieBuck** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 6:52 pm

Nothing else unexpected in the game so far outside of Kostas being Bill Russell for a bit. Giannis continues to be Giannis and the rec league sized SG is still about the only shooter I trust. The minor league Monta Ellis may have found his calling as a coach though. He's a massive improvement over the national coaches of the last decade. Faint praise but it makes a difference.

FrieAaron · Post #1626 » by **FrieAaron** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 7:11 pm

Kostas having a real impact. Brothers have played on the same team in the NBA before, but how about three brothers?

AussieBuck · Post #1627 » by **AussieBuck** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 7:23 pm

This ain't a Dorsey game.

CharityStripe34 · Post #1628 » by **CharityStripe34** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 7:24 pm

He sucks as a lead guard. Has tunnel vision. He should not be the primary guard when Sloukas is out.

AussieBuck · Post #1629 » by **AussieBuck** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 8:04 pm

Job well done.

Post #1630 » by **MickeyDavis** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 8:10 pm

Read on Twitter

emunney · Post #1631 » by **emunney** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 8:43 pm

MickeyDavis wrote:

Read on Twitter

Pretty cool considering few gave them a chance before the tournament started, myself included. They've got an army; we've got a Hulk.

emunney · Post #1632 » by **emunney** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 8:46 pm

Watch on YouTube

Post #1633 » by **ReasonablySober** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 8:46 pm

Here was the Athletic's preview before the tournament.

FIBA rank: 13th

Current NBA players: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)

Former NBA players: Thanasis Antetokounmpo (2015-2024, 198 games), Kostas Antetokounmpo (2018-2021, 22 games), Tyler Dorsey (2017-2023, 107 games), Kostas Papanikolaou (2014-2016, 69 games)

Recent EuroBasket results: Lost to Spain in quarterfinals in 2015, lost to Russia in quarterfinals in 2017, lost to Germany in quarterfinals in 2022

What to expect: This is simply about where Giannis can carry the team. This isn’t a good roster, and at a certain point, opponents will load up completely on the Greek Freak and dare his teammates to beat them. Giannis should be able to lead Greece to around the quarterfinals, but he’ll have to be a superhero to get the team any deeper.

emunney · Post #1634 » by **emunney** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 8:53 pm

Wild how Lithuania stopped contesting anything away from the rim. Big key today was no Katsivelis.

FrieAaron · Post #1635 » by **FrieAaron** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 10:01 pm

The craziest part is that it feels like we still haven't seen them need full-strength Giannis yet. They basically just hang with other teams and then when the score gets down around 6ish, go through Giannis again to build more cushion, rinse and repeat.

higharc · Post #1636 » by **higharc** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 10:11 pm

Spanoulis experimented a little in the first three quarters with JV defense.
Mitoglou was horrendous defensively but started attempting to expose JV with his pick&pop game. But with his 3pointers not falling he became net negative.
Next in line was Kostas who was solid and I believe the highest +/- today with +19 (!).
Even the youngster Samodurov took a turn and wasn't half bad as JV was getting tired.

But in the 4th Giannis took the assignment and completely shut JV down. This is why Giannis is no1. Jokic was targeted in defense and cost Serbia elimination. Take a note.

MartyConlonOnTheRun · Post #1637 » by **MartyConlonOnTheRun** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 10:25 pm

No TA? Assuming he wasn't injured it is kind of funny he can't even get burn on a Greek team when the game matters

CharityStripe34 · Post #1638 » by **CharityStripe34** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 11:02 pm

FrieAaron wrote:The craziest part is that it feels like we still haven't seen them need full-strength Giannis yet. They basically just hang with other teams and then when the score gets down around 6ish, go through Giannis again to build more cushion, rinse and repeat.

This is indeed the case. In the 4th quarter, he started controlling the offense and beautifully found open shooters off of doubles, but a couple of them couldn't convert. This should've been a 20-point win. And he keeps hitting his mid rangers at a solid clip.

Can't stress how crucial Kostas was. He was defensively all over the place without the Thanasis spaziness. That's infinitely vital considering we get turkiye with sengun on Friday. Trying to find an excuse to leave work for two hours to watch.

Sent from my SM-S911U using RealGM mobile app

CharityStripe34 · Post #1639 » by **CharityStripe34** » Tue Sep 9, 2025 11:03 pm

MartyConlonOnTheRun wrote:No TA? Assuming he wasn't injured it is kind of funny he can't even get burn on a Greek team when the game matters

Spanoulis didn't use him because against Israel he got 2-3 bone headed fouls quick. In Europe they bench you if you do dumb ****.

Sent from my SM-S911U using RealGM mobile app

MartyConlonOnTheRun · Post #1640 » by **MartyConlonOnTheRun** » Wed Sep 10, 2025 1:57 am

CharityStripe34 wrote:
MartyConlonOnTheRun wrote:No TA? Assuming he wasn't injured it is kind of funny he can't even get burn on a Greek team when the game matters
Spanoulis didn't use him because against Israel he got 2-3 bone headed fouls quick. In Europe they bench you if you do dumb ****.

Sent from my SM-S911U using RealGM mobile app

Would we have anyone left to play if we had the rule?