Greece beat Montenegro 56-49 in the FIBA U20 European tournament. Decent game overall, very defensive minded, both teams played great defense. Not a lot of offense, just 56 points won the game for Greece. In the fourth quarter, the coach for Montenegro was ejected. That was a long, odd ejection.
Greece had a nice flow to their game at times. When they moved the ball and had more fluidity, they were far superior to the hero ball they also played. The ball would stop, four players would move to the weak side and it really was never successful for Greece. When the ball and players moved, they played real Greek basketball.
The Greek guards would penetrate and kick the ball out for jumpers, they would go outside-in, they really should look at the tape from this game. When Greece sees what they did well, they should look to do more of the that. Move the ball, don’t play hero ball, they don’t have guys who are going to shot a high percentage when isolated. Greek basketball is predicated upon ball and player movement.
Montenegro really didn’t have much offense. They couldn’t score consistently and when they did, they really put a lot of effort into each basket. They even got lucky on one shot when dealing with the Greek pressure. Montenegro shot the ball in a fundamentally sound way, they just didn’t get many open shots. The guards had a hard time recovering after being pressured. The young Greek players found a spark to their defensive fire.
Surely the young team from Greece is inspired by Giannis Antetokounmpo putting Greek basketball on the map. They showed some flare, reminiscent of Giannis’ style. They have a ways to go, but Greek basketball is in the right hands.
The difference in the game was that Greece had a bit more offense. Not much more, but just enough! Now time for some Greek food to celebrate the victory 🙂
Watch the full Greece-Montenegro game: