By Michalis Gioulenoglou / info@eurohoops.net
Limassol, Cyprus – After returning to action during Greece’s training camp, heading to EuroBasket 2025, Thanasis Antetokounmpo scored six points in his first official showing after recovering from Achilles surgery, including a three-pointer to seal the deal against Italy.
In the postgame press conference following the game on Thursday evening, the losing head coach, Gianmarco Pozzecco, talked about wanting to sign Thanasis as the head coach of Openjobmetis Varese.
“I called him because I wanted to sign him. Of course, I respect him,” he recalled talks from more than ten years ago, “I really like his energy. And also, he’s an amazing guy.”
Leading into the EuroBasket opener, the 52-year-old humorously went into needing a sniper to stop Giannis Antetokounmpo, but that was far from the case as the Freak piled up 31 points in Spyros Kyprianou Arena.
“We played solid. I’m happy with the behavior of my players. They were really focused on the game. Yesterday, of course, I was joking about a sniper, but they did on the court what we want to do,” he recapped the matchup, “We had to play a little bit better offensively. We didn’t shoot well.”
“To win any game, our DNA is to bring the same intensity and energy for 40 minutes. I think we brought more energy in the first half than in the second. That’s something that we need to do a little better in the next game,” added Danilo Gallinari after scoring eight points and lasting nearly 16 minutes until fouling out.
Looking to bounce back in the second part of a five-game round-robin schedule in Cyprus, Italy takes on Georgia on Saturday.
Photo Credit: FIBA