GIANNIS-LESS GREECE OUTLAST GREAT BRITAIN

Great Britain fought gamely but succumbed to a 93-77 loss to Greece to stay winless at EuroBasket 2022.

In the absence of Giannis Antetekounmpo, rested for the contest, GB pushed the tournament contenders much harder, and for longer, than they surely could have imagined on an evening where captain Dan Clark surpassed Eric Boateng’s GB men’s caps record with his 117th appearance.

Luke Nelson was the catalyst, notching a team-best 17 points and sparking an early burst of 12 without reply that saw his side claim a 15-8 lead.

It couldn’t last surely – and it didn’t. Nevertheless Nate Reinking’s men showed a buoyancy that had been absent, even in succumbing to a loss that likely all but ends – bar the mathematics – any chance of reaching the last 16.

Greece reeled off a 16-0 run to assert themselves and although a typically unabashed showing from Myles Hesson and a heightened contribution from Ovie Soko upon his insertion into the starting line-up saw GB edge to within 46-43 at half-time, they would not lead again.

Close though, with Soko twice slashing the gap to one from the foul line in the third. To that point, it was far from pretty, if sufficiently effective. But the lapses and errors grew and it became ugly.

Georgios Papagiannis started and finished a 14-4 Greek run that finally broke the British resistance as the two-time EuroBasket champions – headed by a game-high 21 points from Kostas Sloukas – became the first team in Group C to punch their ticket to Berlin for the knockout phase.

And another 10-2 spurt early in the fourth simply added a varnish as GB were ruthlessly picked apart.

“We hung around with them for a majority of the game to prove that we can compete with that level of team,” said Clark. “But, again, we let ourselves down for a period of the game where they were able to get an advantage.

“They know how to manage throughout the game. So there’s a lot of things to work on from our point of view. But again, there’s more positives than there were in the previous two games.”

Now GB must rouse themselves too face Estonia on Tuesday in what could be a scrap to avoid last place, and a whitewash, in Group C.

Dan Clark rues third quarter lapse as Great Britain fall to Greece at #EuroBasket pic.twitter.com/YHOmqv4oOh

— Mark Woods (@markbritball) September 5, 2022

Game Stats – Updates

In the early afternoon game, Croatia held off Estonia 73-70 while Ukraine stunned Italy 84-73 in the late game to also ensure their presence in the next round.

Notes

Group C standings: 1. Ukraine (3-0), 2. Greece (3-0), , 3. Croatia (2-1), 4. Italy (1-2), 5. Estonia (0-3), 6. Great Britain (0-3)

GB starters v Greece: Nelson, Wheatle, Soko, Hesson and Olaseni.

      Greece have won their first three games of a EuroBasket tournament for the third time over the last four editions (also in 2013 & 2015); they have already won more games in this edition than in their entire 2017 EuroBasket (W3 L4).

●      Great Britain have conceded 80+ points for the 9^th EuroBasket game in a row and for the 15^th time overall; among the teams with more than 10 games played at the EuroBasket, they have the highest percentage of games with 80+ points conceded (71% – 15/21).

●      Kostas Sloukas’ 21 points today are the most for a Greek player starting a EuroBasket game on the bench since Sofoklis Schortsanitis against Slovenia in 2009 (23pts); Sloukas has made at least five 3-pointers for the third time at the EuroBasket (5 today), more often than any other Greek player in the competition in the 21^st century.

●      Greece (12 3-pointers today) have made 10+ 3-pointers in three consecutive EuroBasket games for the first time over the last 25 years.

●      Gabriel Olaseni (11reb) has grabbed 10+ rebounds for the 5^th time in eight EuroBasket appearances; since the beginning of the 2017 tournament, only Jonas Valanciunas has had more games with 10+ rebounds grabbed (6 games).