GB Unable to Upset Greece in London

Mansoor Ahmed/Ahmedphotos

Great Britain Senior Men were unable to pull off the upset, falling 84-88 at the hands of Greece at the Copper Box in London on Saturday evening.

The home side had positives to take from the exhibition but ultimately remain frustrated with not being able to pick up the win.

“We’re here to win games,” Dan Clark said in the post-game press conference.

“There’s no two ways about it, really. Throughout the summer we’ve put ourselves in positions where we’re doing the right things; we’re playing well, we’re competing, the intensity is there, guys have got blood in their eyes, they want to win, we just have to learn how to win.

“It sounds silly to say it, but we need to learn how to win, learn how to close out games, do the right things at the end of the game. At the end of the day, they did that better than us and that’s where the difference was.”

There were chances down the stretch; Luke Nelson – who had 13 points in his official home debut – missed a potential go ahead drive in the final seconds, whilst Andrew Lawrence, plagued by foul trouble, had a game-tying three waved off after a foul was called just prior.

“Overall it was a positive game, well fought,” Head Coach Joe Prunty added. “We’ve just go to learn from some of the mistakes we made, learn to close out games, and we’ll be in a good spot”

Dan Clark put in one of his most impressive performances in the GB jersey, finishing with a 23-point, 11-rebound double double, whilst adding 3 assists and a steal for good measure, on six-of-eleven shooting. Sixteen of his points came in the first half as he single-handedly kept GB in it.

Gabe Olaseni was a presence inside, finishing with 20 points in 23 minutes, Achara provided a boost off the bench with 9 points and Teddy Okereafor dished his way to 8 assists.

Pappas led Greece – who were without four key players, including Giannis Antetokounmpo who announced his withdrawal from EuroBasket an hour or so before the game on social media – with 22 points, whilst Nick Calathes got the offence going early for the visitors, finishing with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.

GB will now head to Warsaw, Poland, to take part in a tournament from the 24th-26th Auguust featuring Poland, Hungary and Israel.

Box score.

Notes

• GB Starters: Lawrence, Nelson, Murray, Clark and Olaseni.
• Dang Akodo, Mockford, Bigby-Williams, Killeya-Jones and Josephs registered DNPs, whilst Boateng was out with a hamstring injury.

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix