Double in the Netherlands with Kill Bill… Toliopoulos for Greece!

Despite the significant absences and injury problems that arose in the match, o Vasilis Toliopoulos dressed up as… Kill Bill and pushed her National in victory (74-72) on her Netherlandsfor 2/2 in the sixth group of the EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers.

His guard Mars started Greece’s big counterattack in the third period for the upset (reached -13), while with his own basket in the last seconds, the “official favorite” took the decisive lead! Of course he was by far the best, setting a career record with the coat of arms, with 26 pointswhile he also handed out 8 assists.

Good performance from him too Dimitris Moraitis with 14 points, while another 10p. added the Vassilis Charalambopoulos. From here on, the Costas Antetokounmpo left with a knee problem, o Naz Mitrou-Long he did not play due to shoulder problems, while o George Papagiannis fought tight in the adductor, helping the defense quite a bit in the final minutes.

On the other hand, the Dutch, who grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, fell to 0-2 and they had their first scorer Saftenaar and Kraag with 13 p. and 10p. respectively.

The match

The National team started with Papagianni, Kouseloglou, Charalambopoulos, Toliopoulos and Luntzis. Through the defense and the appetites of Toliopoulos and Charalambopoulos, Greece entered the first three minutes better (2-7). The Netherlands reacted and reduced to a point (6-7), with the same duo responding and sending Spanoulis’ team to +6 (6-12), at 6′. Easy mistakes by the internationals followed, with the “Oranie” tying with Kraag (12-12), but in the last two minutes, good defense (mainly by Antetokounmpo) and Moraitis’ points helped the National Team to close the first period in +4 (12-16).

A bad start from the National Team in the second quarter, as they made one mistake after another, as a result of which the Netherlands found back-to-back baskets in the open court, got psychological and with individual scores of 19-2, shot the difference to +13 ( 31-18), at 15′. Then, Greece… recovered and with its defense stopped the… bleeding, while on the other hand, with Lountzis and Kalaitzakis, they found a score in the attack and dropped the difference (37-32), at 19′. However, in the remaining time a missed defensive rebound and the miss gave the home team the opportunity to go to the locker room with +7 (39-32).

Greece also started well in the second half, reducing the difference (43-39) in the first two minutes. Afterwards, the internationals lacked concentration in defense, with the Dutch finding rhythm in attack and escaping again to +7 (51-44), in the 25th minute. However, from that point on, Toliopoulos caught fire, playing up and down the defense of the home team and scoring in every way, as a result of which the National team turned around and went to +5 (53-58), in 28′. In the final minutes, Spanoulis’ players maintained control and thus closed the third period at +4 (58-62).

With bad offensive choices and lost defensive rebounds, Greece entered the fourth period, with the Netherlands going on a 5-0 run for the lead (63-62), until the 33rd minute. Kalaitzakis broke the… pomegranate for the National Team, with the “Oranie” responding with a three-pointer for +2 (66-64), in the 35th minute. Papagiannis temporarily equalized, with Saftenaar responding (68-66). Then, with the defenses of Fener’s center and decisive points from Moraitis, Greece took the lead (68-70), at 37′. Missed attacks followed, with Saftenaar’s shots putting the home team ahead (71-70) with 1:13 before the end. After a mistake on both sides, Toliopoulos hit the basket for the lead (71-72), at 29.5”. Then, Greece took out the defense and Charalambopoulos’ dunk made it 71-74, at 3.5”. At 1.3” there was a foul on Kluff, who made the first, missed the second and thus the victory came with the final 72-74.

The quarters: 12-16, 39-32, 58-62, 72-74

See here the match statistics

Watch the film of the match here