17.09.2005

Slovenia Remain Unbeaten After Greece Victory

Slovenia played like gold medal contenders in a 68-56 victory over Greece which has given them an excellent chance of winning Group C at EuroBasket 2005 and qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Ales Pipan's team dominated for most of the contest, impressing with their beautiful and effective basketball at a level that Greece did not match on the night in Belgrade.

Slovenia face France on Sunday in a game that should decide which of the two teams finish first, although Greece hold a small chance to finish on top as well, depending on France's margin of victory should they prevail.

The Slovenian defence gave Greece all sorts of problems and allowed them to build a lead of 19 points but Panagiotis Yannakis' team fought their way back and closed to within seven points in the last quarter.

They were unable to draw any closer.

		Sani Becirovic

"I would like to congratulate my players," Pipan said. "They showed a great game, especially on defence.

"They showed what they were made of. We knew all there is to know about the Greek team, both their good and bad sides.

"We managed to stop their players, especially their shooters and didn't allow them to give their best."

Greece will look to finish the group stage on a high when they meet Bosnia-Herzegovina on Sunday when victory is necessary to assure themselves a place in the next round.

Sani Becirovic, whose career was once in jeopardy with a knee injury, showed he is well and truly back to top form for Slovenia in this game by scoring a team-high 18 points.

As powerful and efficient as Slovenia had been, they nearly allowed the Greeks to sneak all the way back in.

A three-point play by Vasileios Spanoulis pulled Greece to within 56-49 with seven minutes to play.

Slovenia held their nerve, though, as Bostjan Nachbar scored four straight points to spark a six 6-0 run to effectively kill off their opponents.

"We didn't allow them to give their best, and our centers - (Radislov) Nesterovic and (Primoz) Brezec - did a great job on (Lazaros) Papadopoulos.

Just like Friday, Slovenia had hegemony on the boards, collecting 11 more rebounds than the Greeks.

The first quarter showed great intensity from both sides.

Neither team allowed the other to take off as the score was tied three times.

The lead also changed hands five times and until the last second, neither side had led by more than three points.

One hope for the Greeks at half-time was the Slovenian big men, Erazem Lorbek and Primoz Brezec, found themselves in foul trouble with three each.

Slovenia and their hot-shooting Becirovic marched to the locker room up 37-27. 

Becirovic finished six of nine from the field, including four of six from the three-point line.

Nachbar added 14 and Marko Milic 11.

Greece, once again, had only one player in double digits. This time it was Papadopoulos who had 15 points.

Greek guard Dimitrios Diamantidis said: "We knew this was going to be a very difficult game.

"Slovenia have a lot of good players outside and inside. We were very nervous, and we couldn't recover from that during the game.

"We try to forget about the game when it's over and it doesn't matter if we win or lose.

"We look to the next game, because in such tournaments you have to play well all the time, even after games like this."

17.09.2005

Greece And Slovenia Meet For Control Of Group C

The big winner of Group C on day 1 was the Greek team after their mauling of France. The pre-game hype said that both Greece and France would be medal contenders, but on the court there was only one team that looked capable of honours, and that was Greece.

The Greek defense was the key and it managed to hold a team with 3 NBA players to just 50 points.

Coach Panagiotis Yannakis knows his team must keep it up for their big game on Saturday against Slovenia: "The first half last night was amazing. The boys put great energy on court. They were concentrated, but we have to be more concentrated against Slovenia. When you have already won the last match, it's logical to be a little more relaxed. The pressure is a little smaller".

One of the best things Greece did against France was stopping France's point guard Tony Parker. Yannakis plans the same experience for Slovenia's Jaka Lakovic. "As I have said before with Parker, those are great players. We can't give them any room, but this will be a team effort. We have to block their spaces, and block their teammates, who are trying to create spaces for them".

Center Lazaros Papadopoulos knows what it will take to chalk up a second win in two days: "We must do same things as we did last night. Control the boards and not allow Slovenia to run the fast break. If we play like we did against France I don't think we'll have problems".

Vasileios Spanoulis, one of the newer faces on the Greek squad, admits that he was surprised how easily France went down, but is already looking forward to the challenge posed by Slovenia: "We didn't expect such an easy win over France, but I think we were the ones that made the French team play so bad. Maybe we can do the same tonight".

Slovenia will step on the court tonight with a lot of positive energy after the win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the support in the stands from their large contingent of fans. More than 70 buses made the way from Slovenia to Belgrade, and  until Serbia & Montenegro arrive to the capital city, Belgrade belongs to Slovenia.

On Saturday the Slovenian fans will have a big battle against the Greek fans, one of the best and loudest groups of fans in the world. The Slovenian supporters will outnumber their Greek counterparts, but with first place in the group at stake, the Greeks will no doubt make themselves heard.

Coach Ales Pipan gives a lot of respect to the Greek team: "The Greek team is the most experienced in the group. They play hard defense, have a specific way of attacking and play very tough. They won all those last friendly games, so it seems they are in top form, so I expect the game tomorrow to be very similar to tonight's game, with maybe tougher defense. It is an open game".

Slovenia spread the scoring load last night between four players - Jaka Lakovic, Erazem Lorbek, Primoz Brezec and Bostjan Nachbar - who all scored 12 to 16 points, and showed great team effort and fighting spirit.

One of the main factors will be rebounding.

Greece will present big men Papadopoulos and Michail Kakiouzis and have capable back up in  Dimitrios Diamantidis, who grabbed 9 rebounds against France. Slovenia has a massive front line with Radoslav Nesterovic, Primoz Brezec, Erazem Lorbek and Bostjan Nachbar. Last night Slovenia pulled down 31 defensive rebounds, more than any other team on the first day of EuroBasket 2005.