The Greek national basketball team finished the group stage of the World Cup in Spain without suffering any loses, after managing to overcome Argentina (79-71) on Thursday evening. Paramount to the Greek victory was the tight defensive line, which managed to restrict Argentine squad to 71 points from their 87 point average in the competition.
Yannis Bourousis was the star player for Greece, who achieved a “double-double” by scoring 16 points and collecting 15 rebounds. Greek coach Fotis Katsikaris was also pleased to see guards Nick Calathes and Nikos Zisis excel creatively. From Argentina Luis Scola stood out with 17 points and 7 three-point shots.
Greece set its own pace early on the game, managing to secure a double-div advantage from the first quarter (28-16). Despite this though, Argentina fought back and even managed to take a three-point lead (28-31) midway in the second quarter, but a 13-point streak allowed Greece to finish the first half with a 11-point advantage (44-33).
The second half was similar, in the Greece continued to dominate the game, with Argentina sporadically threatening to come back and steal the victory, however thanks to impressive plays by Calathes, Bourousis, Printezis and Papanikolaou, Greece finished the third quarter 14-points ahead (64-50). The final quarter was rather tense, when Argentina fought back and briefly took a 2-point lead. Greece however had the final say and with a quick 7 points killed off Argentina’s hopes for a last minute win.
After the winning all five games in the Group phase Greece finished at the top of Group B and was tied with Serbia, which finished fourth in Group A. The two teams will face off in Madrid on Sunday (7pm) in the Round of 16 knock phase.
