Greece NT was unable to get its first win in an Olympic tournament after 2008. Even in the toughest group of the competition this summer, the Greeks were optimistic that they could stun the rest of the group and make it to the knockout phase. They can still do it even after losing the first two games, but they will need to play better against a team like the Australian NT.
Greece had the toughest mission out of the four in Group A of the 2024 Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament. Australia won third place in the previous Olympics; Spain was the 2022 European champion; and the star-studded Canada beat Team USA last summer to get the bronze medal in the Basketball World Cup.
Against Canada, the Greeks went down 16 points before returning to the game in the second half. Giannis Antetokounmpo spearheaded the comeback as the Greeks came one possession away from tying or leading the game before Shai Gigeous-Alexander put an end to their hopes with a floater over Giannis.
Greece found themselves in a similar situation against Spain. The Spanoulis team’s defense collapsed during the second quarter, while the offense remained stagnant, with Nick Calathes struggling. The ball did not arrive in Antetokounmpo’s hands, while the lack of ball movement and catch and shoot attempts hurt the Greece NT’s ability to stop Spain’s momentum.
Calathes-Walkup combined for 10 of Greece’s 35 3-point attempts
Nick Calathes and Thomas Walkup are not known for their ability to make off-the-dribble shots. Both are more known as playmakers who can sometimes hit the occasional open three in catch-and-shoot situations. The ball was not moving in pace for Greece against the Spanish team, and as a result, the Greeks resorted to executing off-the-dribble and late in the clock.
Greece went on to shoot 35 threes and make 12 of them, but most of those came under difficult circumstances. On the other end, Spain hit a good amount of tough shots coming off the veteran duo of Sergio Llull and Rudy Fernandez. However, they made a lot of easy shots in the transition, where they scored 15 points.
Walkup had four three-point attempts, while Calathes had six, with most of them coming off-the-dribble with a few seconds remaining in the clock.
Sergio Scariolo draws one off Nick Nurse’s book
In the crucial second quarter, Spain outscored the Greeks 28–13, keeping Giannis Antetokounmpo under wraps. Sergio Scariolo is a known defensive mastermind, but he also has experience facing Giannis Antetokounmpo at the highest level of competition.
Antetokounmpo has been one of the best players in the world, and he always finds ways to make plays even when their opponents are solely focused on him. Spain’s various zone defenses stopped Greece from moving the ball, while Sergio Scariolo had the experience from his time with the Toronto Raptors to contain Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Scariolo was part of the Toronto Raptors coaching staff during their 2019–20 championship run. Toronto had the size to stop Giannis by attacking him with a box-and-1 zone that also helped them put pressure on Antetokounmpo individually. Whenever Antetokounmpo was trying to move inside the paint, the Spanish team was swarming the Bucks superstar, closing every inch of the court ahead of him.
Greece committed a lot of turnovers and failed to find efficient production on the offensive end, as they were unable to stretch the defense from outside and allow Antetokounmpo to make plays inside his comfort zone.
Greece is lacking good isolation and off-the-dribble shot creators
Greece NT structured their roster around Giannis Antetokounmpo while adding some new elements under head coach Vassilis Spanoulis. The duo of Calathes and Walkup is one of the best perimeter-defending duos in the tournament, while they are also capable of operating as the main initiators on offense.
However, against Spain, Greece worked well with Vassilis Toliopoulos playing on the perimeter, while the presence of Kostas Papanikolaou on the wing was crucial due to his ability to catch and shoot when the Spanish team was swarming the paint. In any case, Greece found the formula to come back from down 14, but in the closing minutes, they lacked an off-the-dribble shot creator to make a big play out of nothing.
Those types of players are hard to find, and Greece had one for several years under its current head coach, Vassilis Spanoulis. Toliopoulos did some of that during his time on the court vs. Spain, but Greek basketball is really struggling to produce a player that can create his own shot from the perimeter.
Spain had three capable shot-creators: Sergio Llull, Rudy Fernandez, and Lorenzo Brown. In the closing minutes, you need to have a player that can attract the interest of the opponents on the perimeter and make tough shots when the clock is running down. Greece did not have anyone capable of doing that against Spain.
