HUGE:"HUGE:This is the Greek Dream Team! The first team to have managed score more than 100 points against a USA National Team with NBA professionals! Greece shocked team USA 101-95 with a brilliant display of team basketball to advance to the world championship final on Friday, as a group of American NBA superstars were once again denied a major title.
Greece shocks USA in Semi Finals - Sep. 1, 2006 - by Chris Mammides
From CNN the following article for the Basketball readers of the eurobasket.com:
The European champions are playing for a much bigger prize. The best the United States can hope for is yet another bronze medals.
Greece used a sizzling stretch of shooting across the middle two quarters to turn a 12-point deficit into a 14-point lead, and beat the Americans 101-95 Friday in the semi-finals of the world championships.
The Greeks (8-0) can add a world title to the European championship they won in 2005 with a victory over either Spain or Argentina in Sunday's gold medal game. Those teams, also undefeated, met in Friday's second game.
The Greeks with no current NBA players on their roster, danced in a circle at half court after their victory over an American team put together after a series of recent failures.
Done in again by their inept 3-point shooting -- and they weren't much better from the foul line -- the Americans will fall short of a championship in a major international tournament for the third straight time.
The U.S. (7-1) will return to the court Saturday against the loser of the Argentina-Spain game, hoping to match the bronze medal it left Athens with in 2004.
Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points for the Americans, who couldn't overcome their 32 percent shooting from 3-point range or 59 percent from the foul line. Dwyane Wade added 19 and LeBron James had 17, but the three U.S. captains were unable to avenge their disappointment from Athens.
Vasilis Spanoulis (193-G-82, agency: Beo Basket), bound for the Houston Rockets, scored 22 points for Greece. Mihalis Kakiouzis added 15 and 6-foot-10 Sofoklis Schortsianitis -- nicknamed "Baby Shaq" or “Big Sofo” added 14, shooting 6-of-7. The Greeks shot 63 percent (35-of-56) from the field and made 31 of 44 shots across the final three periods.
The U.S. hasn't even played for a world championship since winning the last of its three titles in Toronto in 1994. Mike Krzyzewski -- who was looking for gold after winning bronze with the 1990 team -- and a few American players walked to mid-court to congratulate the Greeks, while most of the U.S. quickly headed to the locker room.
The Americans, who put together a national team program this year for the first time after their recent failures, now will be forced to qualify for the 2008 Olympics next summer in the FIBA Americas tournament in Venezuela.
The U.S. seemed in control after Joe Johnson's 3-pointer gave the Americans a 33-21 lead with about 61/2 minutes left in the second quarter. It was around then that James told his teammates on the bench: "They don't know what to do."
Well, they figured it out in a hurry.
Greece scored nine straight points, pulling within three on Theodoros Papaloukas' drive with 3:51 left and forcing Krzyzewski to call timeout. Dwight Howard converted a three-point play, but the Greeks answered with a 13-2 surge, featuring eight points from Schortsianitis, to open a 43-38 advantage and force Krzyzewski to call a second timeout.
Greece hit nine straight shots -- its only miss in the last 5 minutes was a heave from halfcourt as time expired -- and led 45-41 at halftime. The Greeks shot 56 percent (15-of-27) in the half.
The Americans were 2-of-10 from behind the arc -- after going 10-for-40 in their quarterfinal victory over Germany -- and trailed at the break for only the second time in the tournament. Italy had a nine-point cushion in a group play game.
The U.S. also had nine turnovers -- about two below their tournament average for a game -- and was 11-of-17 (65 percent) at the foul line. Greece kept it up in the third quarter, hitting 14 of its 18 shots, including all four 3-pointers in the first 5 minutes. Kostas Tsartsaris' 3-pointer with 5:45 left in the period gave the Greeks a 65-51 lead -- the biggest deficit the U.S. faced in the tournament.
After shooting 4-of-12 in the first quarter, Greece was 25-of-33 (76 percent) in the second and third and led 77-65 heading to the final period.
Anthony, Wade and James combined for the first 18 U.S. points in the quarter, and the Americans eventually got as close as 95-91 on Kirk Hinrich's 3 with 36 seconds to play. But the U.S. missed its final two attempts from behind the arc, capping a 9-of-28 night.
(Makes us) Dream on!!! - Sep. 1, 2006 - by Christos Foundos
This is the Greek Dream Team! The first team to have managed score more than 100 points against a USA National Team with NBA professionals! Greece shocked team USA 101-95 with a brilliant display of team basketball to advance to the world championship final on Friday, as a group of American NBA superstars were once again denied a major title.
The European champions completely controlled the game on both sides of the court from the second quarter onwards, matching the US point-for-point after building a sizable lead. Though the USA led early on, Greece turned things around in the second quarter thanks to a dominating display by Sofoklis "Baby Shaq" Sofocles Schortsianitis (206-F-85), who scored three consecutive baskets down low including a beastly slam dunk reminiscent of his namesake.
The monster of a man dumped in 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field, and was the perfect complement to the outside shooting of Vasileios Vasilis Spanoulis (193-G-82, agency: Beo Basket), who led the Greeks with 22 points. A flustered US team let the Greeks come back from a 12-point second-quarter deficit to take a 45-41 lead going into the second half. That margin only increased in the third quarter as the Greeks went into the final frame leading 77-65 thanks to some great team defence and a beautiful shooting display. The European champs ultimately went 27-for-38 (71%) field goal shooting from inside the arc and 8-for-18 (44%) on three-point attempts.
The score had started to climb up in scale in the middle of the 3rd period and many thought that the Greek players wouldnt be able to hold on to their 10-point lead till the end of the game. But they were mistaken... American trio Carmelo Anthony (203-F-84, college: Syracuse), Dwyane Wade (193-G-82, college: Marquette) and LeBron James (203-F-84) led the American come-back effort late in the fourth quarter, but even Anthony's game-high 27 points could not save the tournament favourites. The Greek players with tremendous patience in offence having 5 players with more than 10 points and an amazing Thodoros Theodoros Papaloukas (200-G-77) who had 8 points and 12 assists showed the American players how simple this game can be if you are a true team! Antonis Fotsis (210-F-81), Kakiouzis scored all the free throws at the last 38 seconds and the Greeks sealed victory!
The game was the third in which the USA, who trailed Italy by nine points and led Germany by only one at half-time of two previous games, struggled against a European opponent in the first half. But this time, the American galacticos had no response for a more fundamentally sound Greek team that did in the American hopes of reclaiming their first world title since 1994. On top of that, the United States were expected to make up for the disappointing performance of two previous groups of NBA stars at the 2002 world championships and at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
But now it is time to celebrate and we can just do what Steven Tyler sings with the Aerosmith... "Dream on, dream on..."
If you run after your dreams one day you will reach them! - Sep. 1, 2006 - by Chris Mammides
"If you run after your dreams one day you will reach them!" said the Greek Head Coach Panagiotis Yiannakis , to the media after the end of the triumph over the USA NT.
The Hellenic "Dream team" and its players prove once more that they worth to be at the top of Europe and they worth to be (soon enough) at the top of the World too!
The Greek Head Coach said that his boys had a consistency and they believed in the victory, no matter what they had to face, no matter if all the odds were against them, no matter if all the Basketball media stated that the Greek team is not good enough, the Greek players and the Hellenic spirit was there!! and like a miracle the Greek players knew much better their opponents, defend them better and scored much better than their opponents, they “forced” all the basketball funs (all over the world) and especially the funs in the Tokyo Arena to give a standing ovation after the end of the game, they played simple basketball and they prove once more that basketball is a team game and not one man's show, for instance Carmello Anthony was really very good, he scored 29 points the same goes for Wade who scored 17 but still they were not enough for the American team.
The Greek Head Coach mentioned that there is not a limit for the Hellenic team, it doesn’t matter what the result will be on Sunday, his boys will be continue to play like that for many years to come, because they realise that basketball is just a game and they are friends and they put their flag and their country over and above all. That's why this NT doesn't have one star but has 12 stars, in each and every game of the World championship there was a different top scorer and different MVP!
The Hellenic team will rest for a day and then he will prepared to struggle against the other semi-finalist for a place in the top of the world.
World Championship: Greece kicked out USA!!! - Sep. 1, 2006 - by Chris Mammides
The Hellenic National Team just beat the 80 million Dollars USA National team 101-95 and is simply waiting the winner of the other semi-final between Spain and Argentina. The top scorer of the Hellenic team was the NBAer Vasilis Spanoulis (193-G-82, agency: Beo Basket) with 23 points and from the "luxurious" team of USA Carmello Anthony who scored 29 points but they were not enough!! The spirit beat the Dollars!
That was the greatest victory of the Hellenic team ever, now is either the second or the first place in the world.
European Basketball is here!! Is getting closer and closer to the NBA and soon enough is going to equalize the level between the two regions. Panagiotis Giannakis was a real General in the Bench and beat 100% the American Coach.
The points of triumph for the Hellenic team teams were:
Dimitris Diamantides 12 points 6 assists, 1 block shot and 5 rebounds
Michalis Kakiouzis 15 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds
Theodoros Papaloukas with 8 points and 12 assists!!
Antonis Fotsis 11 points
Lazaros Papadopoulos 8 points and 6 rebounds
The rookie Sofoklis Schortsianitis scored 14 points and 5 rebounds (three dunks)
Kostas Tsartsaris 3 points
Hatzivretas 2 points
Dimosthenis Dikoudis 8 points |
