4 Theodoros Papaloukas (200-G-77) of CSKA Moscow (RUS)
5 Giannis Bourousis (212-C-83) of Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus
6 Nikos Zisis (195-G-83) of CSKA Moscow (RUS)
7 Vasilis Spanoulis (193-G-82) of Panathinaikos Athens
8 Panagotis Vasilopoulos (202-F-84) of Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus
9 Michalis Pelekanos (198-F-81) of Real Madrid (ESP)
10 Nikos Hatzivrettas (195-G-77) of Panathinaikos Athens
11 Dimos Dikoudis (207-F/C-77) of Panathinaikos Athens
12 Kostas Tsartsaris (210-F-79) of Panathinaikos Athens
13 Dimitris Diamantidis (196-G-80) of Panathinaikos Athens
14 Lazaros Papadopoulos (210-C-80) of Real Madrid (ESP)
15 Michalis Kakiouzis (206-C-76) of Cajasol Sevilla (ESP)


Euro basket begins tonight. Greece plays Israel first game.

The EuroBasket champs from Greece successfully started their campaign to defend the title with a 76-66 win over Israel in the second game of Group A tonight in Granada.

Israel, coming into the game with some huge momentum from the additional qualifying round, put up a big fight against the title-holders.

Greece couldn't put their opponents away until the final quarter, when they caught fire from long range, connecting on five of seven three-point shots at one point.



They came to EuroBasket without the injured Antonis Fotsis and feared it might affect the team's performance, but tonight they had nothing to worry about.

The team's two other power forwards – Kostas Tsartsaris and Demos Dikoudis - combined for 30 points on 66% shooting from the field, 11 rebounds and two blocks. The former stepped up in the last quarter with two crucial baskets from beyond the arc.

"I'm very disappointed on one side but very proud of us on the other," said Israel's forward Ido Kozikaro, who scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds. "We gave a lot of effort, but we came too short."

Greece left a lot of sweat on court, but they knew it was going to be a tough game. "We knew from the start Israel are a team of fighters and this is what happened," said Tsartsaris after the game.

It took Israel almost three minutes to get its first points on the board, and by then Greece already led 7-0.

Jeron Roberts woke the challengers with five points in a row, and his seventh point was



Green helped Israel keep the
game close in the first half


followed by Yotam Halperin's three-pointer to give Israel their first lead of the night.

Greece though answered with four points in a row to take a 19-15 lead after 10 minutes, but Halperin was just getting warmed up.

He added seven points, and together with a great job in the paint by Yaniv Green, helped Israel take a surprising 31-28 lead with a little under a minute left in the half. Tsartsaris though converted a three-point play to send the teams to the locker room tied at 31 a piece.

"Our point was to be very patient. This was the key for the win today," revealed the winning coach Panagiotis Yannakis after the game, and the second half set an example of that mentality.

Greece were two for 11 from long range at the break, but rediscovered their touch in the second half.

Halperin made it 42-40 to the Israeli side with 3:38 to play in the third, but for the next 11 minutes the Greek defense clamped down on their opponents.

On the offensive end, Yannakis' gang hit just about everything from downtown. When the score was tied at 46-46, Dimitrios Diamantidis hit a three-pointer which started a rain of three's by Greece.

"For 30 minutes it was a close game, but in the last quarter we created a gap and kept it until the end," said Tsartsaris, but was very gentle in his analysis.

His team hit five three-pointers - all by different players - out of six attempts in a span of 4:30 minutes, to take a seven-point lead. Tsartsaris followed Diamantidis and saw Diamanthidis Ntikoudis, Theodoros Papaloukas and Vasileios Spanoulis follow on from them.

After Spanoulis broke the "trend" with a two-point shot, Papaloukas hit another long bomb to make it a 66-59 game for Greece.

Israel didn't give up just yet as Halperin converted another three-point play to cut the deficit to four, only for Tsartsaris to hit from long range line once again with 2:28 to play. The shot took whatever spirit Israel had left and seal the game.

Greece will take on Serbia tomorrow in an attempt to clinch a place for the next round, while Israel will face Russia.

03.09.2007 vs ISR 76-66
04.09.2007 vs SRB 20:30
05.09.2007 vs RUS 20:30



Good luck to the Euro champs Ellada .

All the EURO BASKETBALL games are shown live on ERT WORLD.

Highlights of the Greece v Israel 2007 Euro Basket.

[youtube]0pYTG2BLLvQ[/youtube]

Serbia want to show they are still a basketball power that can contribute to the fight for gold in EuroBasket.

And what's a better way to prove your worth than to win a game against the defending champions Greeece?

Ironically they'll try to do it with their youth against the experience one of the title-holders.

Almost every player on the Greek roster carries experience from big games with the national team, his club or both, while Serbia speak openly about their lack of experience.

Last Time Out: Greece fought hard to open this tournament with a 76-66 win over Israel. They needed to get hot from three-point range in the second half to hold off their opponents after Israel put up a very tough fight for 37 minutes. Serbia trailed from the start in their 73-65 loss to Russia but came back from a double-digit deficit twice, which showed a lot of character, but not a winning mentality.

Head-to-Head: Three weeks ago, Serbia and Greece met in a friendly game. The final score was 93-62 for Serbia and it echoed across all of Europe. Friendly or not, Greece want to get revenge for that result, while Serbia want to prove it wasn't a fluke.





Gurovic's scoring ability is key against champions Greece


Key Match-up: As expected Milan Gurovic was Serbia's top scorer in their opener with 24 points, but it was more than just points on the board. He was always a vital part of any attempted run Serbia made to try and get back in the game and, when he was off the court, Russia extended their lead. Gurovix though didn't shoot very well from the field (seven of 16) or even the free throw line (seven of 12), didn't get a single assist and failed to contribute much in any other field other than scoring. Serbia will rely on his scoring once again but could do with him shooting better and helping out in other categories.
Without him, the team will have an almost impossible task in trying to beat Greece and here's where Dimitrios Diamantidis steps in again as the best defender in Europe, going on one of the best scorers in Europe. Gurovic easily won the top scorer title in the ULEB Cup and Adriatic league last season. Keep an eye also on the defensive-minded Michalis Pelekanos - making his EuroBasket debut - who will come off the bench and try to contain or at least slow down Gurovic. Last season he was the runner-up in the Greek league in the steals category.

Statistics: Serbia shot only 32.5% for two-point range and 58.1% from the free-throw line against Russia. If they wish to even dare think about winning against the defensively much tougher Greece, they'll have to shoot much better. The title holders managed to beat Israel only thanks to a incredible three-point barrage in the second half. Two years ago, when they won gold, they made on average 25.4% of their attempts from long range. At last year's World championship in Japan, they were slightly better at 32.9%. Against Israel yesterday, they made 10 shots from beyond the arc on a very respectable 43.5%. It's likely Greece won't shoot like that again until the end of the tournament. Against Serbia, they'll need to find a different way to win.

X-Factor: Serbia is probably the tallest team in EuroBasket and they need to show that and use that height advantage properly if they want to win. Darko Milicic can't afford another bad night like he had against Russia, but that's a key, not an X-Factor. Zoran Erceg contributed only three points and two rebounds in his EuroBasket debut, but tonight must give more than that. If he hits his shots from outside - something he improved on a lot during the last season with FMP - Darko will have much more space in the paint against the tough Greek defense. The latter are usually a high field goal percentage team and so every shot that misses the target need to be grabbed by the Serbians to prevent a potentially good second chance opportunity for their opponents. Erceg will have to improve that aspect as well. The same goes for the young Dragan Labovic, who can contribute in a similar way, but played only four minutes last night.

What It Means: Greece want to win this game to book a place in the next round before having even played Russia tomorrow so that they can turn their focus on the fight for first place. A loss could complicate things and send Greece to play the last game with a chance of getting knocket out. Serbia's defeat to Russia lost them some credibility and they will want to gain that respect back. Nothing can do that better than a win over the champs, but first of all Serbia just want to survive. They'll probably need to beat Israel on the last day anyhow to qualify, but going into that game with a 0-2 record could make it more complicated.


Preliminary Round
GROUP A (Granada, ESP)
Russia 90
56 Israel

Greece 68
67 Serbia

1. Russia 2/0 4
2. Greece 2/0 4
3. Serbia 0/2 2
4. Israel 0/2 2

Israel
05.09.2007 18:00 Serbia

Russia
05.09.2007 20:30 Greece




IT was a nail bitiing game hopefuly they will win the next game

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