Another final, the third overall and second in a row, gives to World Cup the national basketball team. Today (15:40, ERT and Novasports) he faces the Lithuania in the first matchday of the second phase, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila. Although it is a group, the match has a knockout charactersince if he wins he jumps for the “8”, while if he loses he is definitively excluded.
Christos Robolis writes from Manila
Things are simple and do not need over-analysis, since there are two ways:
-if Greece winswill stay alive in the game of qualifying for the quarterfinals, since they will need to beat (not mathematically but practically) indifferent Montenegro on Sunday morning (11:40) and for Lithuania to pull off no miracle against the USA in order to enter the “8”.
-if Greece losesthen any chance of qualifying for the last eight is eliminated and it is Lithuania who advance definitively to the quarter-finals, with the match against Montenegro on Sunday becoming procedural in nature.
So it’s about one more “final” for the National team, after them against Jordan and New Zealand. The difference is that this time she does not carry the big “must” and the title of the favorite that has to prove its worth belongs to the other side, that of Lithuania, which reached the second phase with three victories and in fact all of them by a wide margin. difference.
THE Dimitris Itoudis he followed the tactic of staying the game against New Zealand, without training on the field. It gave the players, who were limited to gym drills and plenty of video analysis, a chance to clear their minds and unwind. The consolation is that there are no new competition problems and the main issue is the freshness of the team, as several players worked overtime in the match against New Zealand.
In the regular part, the Greek team will try to cut off or limit his supply Jonas Valanciunas and his reserve, Donatas Motiejunas, which it is a given that Lithuania will try to feed to take advantage of their bulk and wear down the George Papagiannis. What is needed is the pressure on the ball and on the main creator of “Lithuania”, Rokas Yokubaitis, which has no equal back up, as well as controlling the rebounds against the team that is first in this part in the entire tournament. The Greek attack requires quick ball movement and good execution.
Blue and white tradition as a whole, but not in the official ones
The two teams have met 26 times in the past at Men’s level, with Greece claiming 16 victories, but Lithuania winning six of the nine official matches between the two teams. However, in the most recent meeting between the two teams, in the round of 16 of EuroBasket 2017, the Greek team won 77-64 in Istanbul. The prehistory in detail:
06/09/1992 (Piraeus-Filiko) 83-81
03/06/1995 (Lyon-Friendly) 80-84
22/06/1995 (Athens-Eurobasket) 73-89
30/06/1996 (Berlin-Friendly) 77-57
07/16/1996 (Chicago-Friendly) 83-85
30/07/1996 (Atlanta-Olympic Games) 66-99
29/06/1997 (Girona-Eurobasket) 73-66
07/08/1998 (Nicosia-Friendly) 82-68
23/06/1999 (Dijon-Eurobasket) 64-82
23/08/2001 (Marousi-Friendly) 75-73
16/06/2002 (Marousi-Friendly) 78-44
06/20/2002 (Alasio-Filiko) 84-69
17/07/2004 (Bormio-Friendly) 79-92
28/07/2004 (Glyfada-Filiko) 65-64
07/08/2004 (Madrid-Friendly) 88-75
19/08/2004 (Greek-Olympic Games) 76-98
20/08/2006 (Hamamatsu-Mundobasket) 81-76
20/08/2007 (Marousi-Friendly) 78-71
16/09/2007 (Madrid-Eurobasket) 69-78
26/08/2009 (Marousi-Friendly) 75-73
17/09/2011 (Kaunas-Eurobasket) 69-73
06/17/2012 (Kaunas-Filiko) 82-70
28/08/2013 (Marousi-Friendly) 80-62
16/08/2014 (Kaunas-Friendly) 67-86
29/08/2015 (Marousi-Friendly) 67-62
09/09/2017 (Istanbul-Eurobasket) 77-64
Source: Sport Fm
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