Greece “woke up” and magically qualified for the “16”!

Hit the… alarm clock and qualified for the round of 16 of the World Cup the Hellas!

With a super image in the second part, through its defense and with their big protagonists Papapetrou and Lorentzakisthe national team won 83-74 the New Zealand and got the ticket to the next phase as second (2-1) from the third group.

All… wrong for the “official favorite” in the first half, as it even found itself at -15 (28-43).

The match

Greece started with Papagiannis, Thanasis, Papanikolaou, Lountzis and Walkap. Nervous start from the National Team, which was misguided despite the good choices in the attack, while at the same time the lost rebounds had given New Zealand the opportunity to maintain its lead (9-12), until the 6th minute. Larentzakis’ three-pointer temporarily brought the match to a tie (12-12), with the team from Oceania responding with a 5-0 of their own (12-17) and taking advantage of the bonus shots to close with this difference the first period (15-20).

The image of the match was the same at the beginning of the second period, with the nervousness continuing for the National Team and the New Zealanders initially escaping at +9 (18-27). Things then got even worse as New Zealand improved their figures from outside 6.75m to +13 (20-33) at 16′. Papapetrou kept Greece aggressive, Te Rangi had found his hand from the perimeter, for +15 (28-43), at 18′. In the last two minutes, Itoudis’ team tightened up defensively, closing the first half with a 4-0 run (32-43).

With more concentration in defense and correct choices in attack, Greece went on a 6-0 run in the second half (38-44), in the first two minutes. New Zealand answered and escaped to +9 (40-49), in the 24th minute. The National Team recovered quickly and with Papapetrou returning to the floor again hungry, came close to a point (50-51), in the 27th minute. However, in the final minutes the internationals… became silent offensively, with the New Zealanders closing the third period at +4 (50-54).

Greece made a furious start in the fourth period, as through its defense it found baskets in the open court and went on a 9-0 run, for +5 (59-54), in the 32nd minute. From that point on, the National Team had found a rhythm and had fully imposed its rhythm and with the three-pointers falling… rain from Papapetrou and Larentzakis, the difference escaped to +12 (73-61), in the 36th minute. New Zealand fought back with Te Rangi and Ili, halving (75-69) in the 38th minute, with Papagiannis “unstuck” the “official favourite”, who was in control and took the win with the final 83 -74.

The quarters: 15-20, 32-43, 50-54, 83-74

See here the match statistics

Watch the film of the match here