Greece overcomes stiff Czech resistance
Greece’s hoopsters eliminated their jinx team, the Czech Republic, on Sunday through a 94-88 victory in Germany and have advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2022 Eurobasket.
On a day when several favorites fell in the round of 16, Greece found itself trailing by six (47-41) early in the second half, having surrendered its early nine-point advantage (11-2), as the Czechs found a way to contain Giannis Antetokounmpo and the distance shots failed.
However the quality of this team was too high to see the Greeks succumb to the Czechs for a third year in a row, after elimination from the World Championship and the Olympic qualifiers, and managed to turn things around especially in the fourth quarter.
Some alternatives supplied by bench players such as Giannoulis Larentzakis offered coach Dimitris Itoudis more options that the Czechs could not contain. The final minutes had Greece hold on to its lead and confirm its supremacy with a confident finish to the game in Berlin, in front of some 4,000 Greeks at the stands.
Giannis made just four points in the first half but reacted with 23 in the second to take its tally to 27 on the night, plus 10 rebounds and five assists. Nick Calathes followed with 14 points and Ioannis Papapetrou added another 13.
In the quarterfinals Greece will face host Germany. The match is scheduled for Tuesday night.
Greece is now probably the biggest favorite for the title after the elimination of Serbia by Italy earlier on Sunday.
