By Rigas Dardalis/ dardalis@eurohoops.net
Greece needed to start the second round with a win, after carrying only two defeats from the first Eurobasket round to Group F and did it in style. The team of coach Trinchieri (1-2) prevailed 79-75 over Spain (1-2) after a great defensive effort and 20 points by Vasilis Spanoulis.
The game started with Spaniards leading 26-16 after the first quarter, however with Marc Gasol on the bench because of his third foul, Greece was leading 41-38 at the half. Gasol returned and finished the game with 20 points, Rudy Fernandez had also 20 points, but Greece made all the big shots and finished the game with just 6 turnovers.
As Spanoulis said: “We had our backs against the wall, but we won the first of our three finals in the second round. We don’t have to get overexcited, we have still a lot of work to do. We played great defence, we made some big shots. We have to play the same way against Slovenia”.