Dream is over for Greek hoopsters
Greece crashed out of the 2022 Eurobasket as its terrible showing in the second half condemned it to a crashing defeat to host Germany with a 107-96 score in Berlin on Tuesday.
The poor defending almost throughout the quarterfinal saw Greece play catch-up for almost the entire game. The early 14-5 lead of the Germans provoked some reaction, especially in the second quarter, when the Greeks played to their quality to lead 61-57 at half-time.
However in the second half the players of coach Dimitris Itoudis appeared to have lost their concentration completely, as if something negative had happened in the locker room at half-time.
The Germans would score triples from everywhere on a perfect night for them and enjoyed a partial 20-1 at some point in the third quarter. They ran away with the lead then and were never really challenged by the Greeks even when the latter reduced their arrears to nine (87-78), without managing to come back into the game.
Even Giannis Antetokounmpo did not have his best of showings, and got ejected with two unsportsmanlike fouls five minutes from the end. He did score 31 points, followed by Giannoulis Larentzakis with 18.
The 46-32 rebound statistics was also revealing of the German supremacy on the night.
The six consecutive wins up to Tuesday came to nothing for Greece that was sent packing by the Germans, who deservedly advanced to the semifinals.
