In this “group of death”, every defeat is a real stab in the back.Australia and the Canada thus took a big step forward towards the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games by winning on the first day.
On the contrary, for Spain and Greece, the path to get out of the group is already becoming more complicated…
“We never give up and we are one of the best teams in the world” reassure Vassilis Spanoulisproud to have seen his players push Canada to its limits. “We fought until the end, and we made everyone very proud. That's why we're going to qualify for the next round. Because we deserve it.”
A stifling Canadian pressure… and borderline?
For this, Giannis Antetokounmpo (34 points) will still have to receive more support. Against Canada, the “Greek Freak” could only count on Kostas Papanikolaou to resist. Especially in the first half.
“Giannis was really good tonight, but the whole team reacted in the second half. So I'm proud of my team.” explains the coachwho notes that his group took half a game to adapt to the pressure exerted by the Canadians. Pressure that was on the edge of legality according to him. “I think they made a lot of mistakes, but they weren't always penalized. Very often, they defended with both hands and, very often, I didn't understand why it wasn't whistled the same way on both sides. But hey, in the second half, we were more aggressive and we attacked the circle more. We were incredible in defense, that's what won us.”
Greece will therefore try to build on this second half to bounce back on Tuesday, against Spain. To keep the hope of qualifying for the quarter-finals alive, it will be absolutely necessary to win against La Roja, at 11:00.
Photo credit: FIBA
