The first four playing days of the World Basketball Championship in Japan have already presented some exciting endings to the fans. Once again, the kings of the last seconds showed themselves the Greeks.
With rivals in the preliminary round, the wards of Panayiotis Yannakis were not lucky. In addition to them, group C included the teams of Australia, Brazil, Lithuania, Turkey and Qatar. All of them, with the exception of Qatar, naturally expect to get into the playoffs. However, even Middle Eastern outsiders managed to spoil the blood of European champions. During the match, the Greeks lost 16 points, but caught on in time, caught up with the opponent and eventually achieved a landslide victory - 84:64.
But in the next two matches they had to fully demonstrate their ability to make endings. In a meeting with Lithuania, it even came to overtime. Arvydas Matziauskas could extend the game for another five minutes, but his most important three-point shot did not reach his goal. The Lithuanians, by the way, in this match outright won the selection (46-29) and nevertheless suffered a defeat.
Most of the fight with the Australians, the Greeks acted as catching up. The team of Brian Gurdjian now has several players who won the 2003 World Junior Championship (under 19 years old). The best of them - Andrew Bogut, the first issue of last year's NBA draft, has already spent - and not bad - one season in the strongest league in the world, playing for Milwaukee Bucks. It was Bogut who seemed to bring the Australians victory in the end: he scored a three-pointer, made an interception and earned three more points - with the help of a bonus free kick - in the next attack. But it was not there.
In the semifinals of the last European Championship, the Greeks won eight points in 47 seconds. This time it was required to play five, but for 34. It is said - done. Rivals on the nerve began to smear the penalties, and the Greeks set up a three-point sight. Anthony Fotsis already seemed to have transferred the game to overtime, but the Australians, not yet having time to get upset properly, managed to make another loss, and Nikos Zisis got a victory from eight meters in normal time - 72:69.
Now it’s even hard to imagine what head start the Greeks cannot play in the last seconds. The next experiments will be matches with Brazil and Turkey. The Yannakis team, in which, by the way, representatives of the Russian championship play by no means the last role - Moscow Dynamo Antonis Fotsis and Lazaros Papadopoulos, as well as Theo Papaloukas from CSKA, so far justifies the reputation of the shadow (after the United States, of course) favorite of the championship.
In Japan, there is still a lively belief associated with the sacred mountain of Fuji: if a visitor to this country sees the top of a mountain hidden by fog, then he will not be lucky. But the one who at the first moment saw the whole mountain, can count on luck. While it seems that in clear weather the teams of Greece, Turkey, France, Italy and Puerto Rico arrived in Japan. It was they who won victories in the tense endings. The Italians seem to have decided to even test the fortune: in the match with Senegal, two and a half quarters played the fool and allowed the opponent to come off by 10 points. But the sign worked - they won. However, so far these are only matches in groups. The playoffs will begin on Saturday.
World Basketball Championship. Men
Group A
Argentina - Venezuela - 96:54
Serbia and Montenegro - Lebanon - 104: 57
France - Nigeria - 64:53
Argentina - 3: 0, France - 2: 1, Serbia and Montenegro, Nigeria, Venezuela, Lebanon - 1: 2 each
Group B
Angola - New Zealand - 97:53
Germany - Spain - 71:92
Japan - Panama - 78:61
Spain, Angola - 3: 0, Germany - 2: 1, Japan - 1: 2, New Zealand, Panama - 0: 3
Group C
Lithuania - Qatar - 106: 65
Greece - Australia - 72:69
Turkey - Brazil - 73:71
Greece, Turkey - 3: 0, Brazil, Lithuania, Australia - 1: 2, Qatar - 0: 3
Group D
China - Puerto Rico - 87:90, FROM
Italy - Senegal - 64:56
Slovenia - USA - 95: 114
USA, Italy - 3: 0, Puerto Rico - 2: 1, Slovenia - 1: 2, Senegal, China - 0: 3
Mikhail MELNIKOV