THE National basketball team gives the most important match against New Zealand (15:40, ERT, Novasports, sport-fm.gr) for the last matchday of the first phase of its groups World Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila. It is a true “final”, with the winning team advancing to the top 16 in the world and the loser being condemned to the ranking matches for places 17-32.
Christos Robolis writes from Manila
The two teams are tied 1-1 in second place in the third group in the shadow of the USA who are definitely first. The winner will advance to the second group stage, where they will face Lithuania and Montenegro on Friday with the first and on Sunday with the second, with the goal of 2/2 which will lead her to the quarter-finals (under conditions she can also qualify with 1-1, in a three-way tie at 3-2 and based on the differences). The loser will be in the qualifying matches for places 17-32 against Egypt and Mexico playing Thursday and Saturday.
The Greek team is expected to have Thanasis Antetokounmpo available, who, despite the strain he suffered in the match against the USA, does not want to be absent at all and will grit his teeth to compete. So the national team will not go with… ten counting another loss after that of Dinos Mitoglou. THE Dimitris Itoudis he expects his players to “match” the toughness of their opponents and show the surplus of experience and quality they have in all positions. Of course, he would like better defensive behavior compared to the previous games and better executions, since the Greek team shoots with only 52.9% on shots and 34.5% on three-pointers.
The opponents, called and Tall Blacks, is a tough team, without great talent (since the Webster brothers and NBAer Stephen Adams are absent), but extremely dangerous. They play as a team, shoot like… crazy and tire relentlessly on defense. Liafa, Te Rangi and Ili are dangerous perimeters with long-range shooting appeal, Delaney is a modern forward, while the dynamic Foutou and the long Wetzel make up the ‘poverty’ in New Zealand’s front line bodies led by the basketball legend of country, Pero Cameron, a member of the top five at the 2002 World Cup when his team was fourth.
Only wins and deja vu of 2019
Greece and New Zealand have met four other times in the past, with the “official favourites” only counting wins. The two teams are meeting for a second consecutive World Cup in the first round, as in 2019 the National team had a hard-fought victory 103-97 in the city of Nanjing, China, in a game that was also then a qualifying final for the second round. Analytically:
18/07/2008 (Pre-Olympic / Marousi): Greece-New Zealand 75-48
28/06/2012 (Friendly / Sao Carlos): Greece-New Zealand 99-69
18/08/2014 (Friendly / Kaunas): Greece-New Zealand 95-65
05/09/2019 (World Cup / Nanjing) 103-97
Detailed schedule for Wednesday (30/8)
11.00 South Sudan – Serbia (2nd Group, Philippines, Novasports)
11.00 Georgia – Venezuela (6th Group, Japan, ERT 1 & Novasports)
11.40 USA – Jordan (Group 3, Philippines, Novasports)
12.45 Ivory Coast – Brazil (7th Group, Indonesia, Novasports)
14.30 Slovenia – Cape Verde (6th Group, Japan, Novasports)
15.00 China – Puerto Rico (2nd Group, Philippines, Novasports)
15.40 Greece – New Zealand (3rd Group, Philippines – ERT 1 & Novasports)
16.30 Iran – Spain (7th Group, Indonesia, Novasports)
Source: Sport Fm
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