Greece’s dream for a medal in the Paris Olympic men’s basketball tournament was dashed in the quarterfinal on Tuesday by World Champions Germany, who won 76-63 to become the first team through to the semifinals. Catching Germany off guard, Greece got off to a flying start and opened up a 12-point lead. However, Germany bounced back in the second quarter, keeping Greece to six points from the paint, totally erasing the deficit after coach Gordon Herbert and his staff adjusted their defense.
As a result the two teams headed for halftime even at 36 points. Even though Greek NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo had a game high of 22 points, that was not enough to stop the Germans, who gradually took control of the game in the second half, with Franz Wagner netting 18 points. Germany will now play France or Canada in the semifinals.
Despite the defeat, Greek coach, and former legendary player, Vassilis Spanoulis was proud of his team’s performance at the Olympic tournament. “We made an amazing run in both the Pre-Olympic Tournament and the Olympics. We showed that we are an up-and-coming force against teams that have been together for years, that have medals,” he said.
“The guys overachieved, teams are built and there is no magic that happens overnight. And when we took our first steps with the national team, we went all the way to eight at the 2004 Olympics. But we all saw that something beautiful was being built.
So now I see that something very good is being created,” S.