By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Great Britain managed to cut Greece’s lead to one point (51-50) in the 23rd minute of the game. That was the best they could do playing against one of the Eurobasket contenders without Giannis Antetokunmpo on the court.
Giannis was rested, his brother Kostas has not yet made his Eurobasket debut but Greece without feeling much pressure got the 93-77 win behind 21 points by Kostas Sloukas on 8/9 FG. Greece remains on top of the Group C standings with a 3-0 record, while GB is last at 0-3.
Center George Papagiannis who also is coming off injury finished the game with 17 points (8/11 FG) and six rebounds. Captain Kostas Papanikolaou and Michalis Loutzis added 10 points each.
As for Giannis? “He will play tomorrow against Ukraine”, said coach Dimitris Itoudis who clarified that he wanted to protect his star. And of course, he gave credit to his other players: “Sloukas and Papagiannis have a great connection and I also want to talk about our captain, Kostas Papanikolaou. I am grateful that I work with him. He understands his role and gives the example”.
Kostas Sloukas added: “Giannis is our guide, but I feel that in this game we made a step forward as a team”.
GB was competitive for a little more than one-half of the game and this was not a small task for a team that due to lack of support from their federation came to Eurobasket with no preparation games and a practically non-existing training camp.
Luke Nelson with 17 points and Myles Hesson with 13 tried their best. Ovie Soko added 12 points and Dan Clark had 11.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL