Group B, day 4: Greece vs Angola
Three losses for Angola and they might miss Cipriano again to an injury. Do they stand a chance against the Greeks?
Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
Artificial Nature
Poor Angola, everyone's punching bag. Greece bounces back nicely.
Angola goes down like a ship anchor.
"...I got the hand that will rock your craddle / cream you like cheese spread you on my bagel..." - Shaq
This would be a major upset if Angola beats Greece. But it would not happen in a million years!
Just a thought
To Person Who Voted for Angola: Martians called; you forgot your luggage there
It's not a matter of who's gonna win. It's a matter of will it be 20+ or 30+ points for Greece. Whoever scheduled Angola after the USA for Greece, was a sadist
"If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?"
Greece seems to be doing much better against teams they are supposed to beat than in the past. Their pressure defense stifles teams with weak or inexperienced guards and their quick rotations on offense leads to many points in the paint against teams with small front lines. In the past, Greece would perform below expectations against weak teams and above expectations against strong teams. Now it is the opposite. Greece beats weak teams by 20+ points and loses badly to the best teams. This is a troubling development for the knock-out stage but it bodes well for the game against Angola.
If we loose this one, we should start packing our things and return to Greece.
Greece to win by 20 points.
They should play focused and not take Angola for granted.
+ 20 to 25 for Greece.
It is a good oportunity to get some "rest" and also to improve the psychology for the last game against China!
But however at the end it is the same if we play against Argentina or if we play against Lithuania in the quarter final!
If with God's help we succeed in the quarterfinal it is also the same if we face Spain or if we face the USA in the semifinal!
There's only a national team that could lose to Angola. It was Spain, when Angola wasn't even strong as it's today, and the Olympic Games were also host by Catalunya, Spain (the well known Angolazo).
Angola is improving a lot, and in the future the will grow. Angolan players have a good talent, they luck in experience and maybe basketball tactics. Physically, only the United States are stronger than them, for obvious reasons.
When Angolans will start to come to Europe, because European teams will understand that they can't play basketball, there will be a sort of revolution. Since Angola is a Lusophone country, agents and managers won't have so many troubles to find Portugues passports for them. With the Bosman status, teams from Italy, Spain, Greece, maybe France and Germany, won't lose any visa for non-UE players. Angolans won't be so expensive and will be UE players. Something similar to what happened with Argentina: when players started to obtain Italian or Spanish passports as rain, they could come to Europe, improving their skills: Ginobili, Scola, Oberto, Sconochini, Nocioni... all them became "Europeans" in Italy, Spain or Greece. And that's the main reason if Argentina is one of the top 3-4 national teams in the World now.
Ginobili played in Viola Reggio Calabria, average team, and became the superstar of the Triple Crown Winner 2001, Virtus Bologna, for example. It will happen the same with Angolans, they will start playing as "Portugueses" with Montegranaro or Valladolid, and within 2-3 seasons they will become first level Euroleague players.
It's impossible to predict a future like the one of Argentina, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if Angola will be a world medal contender between 2020 and 2025. They have talent, athletics, and basketball is very important in the country. But this is future, despite the genetic errors of the Hellenic national team 2008, it would be really surprising if an "Angolazo part II" would happen.
Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Περιστερίου
I believe that we shouldn't talk about whether we r gonna beat Angola. The point is 2 use players with less playing time till now and gain sth from them.
I also don't like tactics like losing matches on purpose in order 2 find more suitable opponents. Apart from fair play matters, this can turn into a boomerang. History has shown that 2 the greek team from both sides:
1)WC 1994, Greece face Puerto Rico in the last group stage game. Puerto Rico leads by 9 and we have a triple tie between the 2 teams and Germany. Sigalas has 2 FTs(1+1 actually), if he makes one, Greece finish 1st in the group and go on 2 face Croatia, Spain and hosts Canada in the 2nd round; if he misses we face USA, Russia and Australia. The technical staff prefers the second group 2 avoid the hosts and instructs Sigalas 2 miss the FT. He accidentally banks it in, we finish first in the group and at the same time China beats Spain and takes its place in the 2nd phase. Greece beats Canada and China and advances in the semis. Russia who was considered an easier opponent went on 2 the final...
2)OG 1996, Greece has already qualified 4 the quarter-finals and has one last match remaining against Australia. Either we win and go on 2 face Croatia or we lose and face Lithuania. The greek staff prefers 2 avoid Croatia because of the losing streak we had at that time against them. The team enters the match vs Australia relaxed and unmotivated and lose by 40! Then comes the q/f where Lithuania beats us by 30+ and we end up 5th, while Croatia, who was supposedly feared ended up 7th...
Furthermore, I don't believe that Giannakis as a coach would make choices on what games the team wants 2 win or not. The team will try 2 win all games no matter what. It's just typical 4 greek teams 2 raise their performances along with motivation, but we never wanna lose under Giannakis.
Your time is up my time is now,
you can't see me my time is now...
"Basketball is like the church. Many attend it, but few understand it"
If u smell what the G.L. is cookin'...
The Demon of Greek loby is here!
angola doesn't have the ability to match the pick and rolls and trapping defense of the greeks.
"There are only three kinds of mathematicians: those who can count, and those who can not."
Ana "The Hurricane" Julaton - 1st Filipino Female Boxer Double Word Champion.
Força Angola
We have no chance at all...the Grecs are much more stronger than us and we are not playing well.
I dont know what happen with my team but we dont use play as bad as we are playing in Olympics.
Angola to suffer their biggest defeat in the Olympics today
Surprising game in the first period, Angolans are pressuring very much and Greece is missing many shots and/or shooting at the buzzer. Pretty nice effort by the Angolans who are offensively being not so effective. Greece leads 12-11.
Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
Artificial Nature
Greece 12 Angola 11 ugly play so far.
The Rules learned in the Prediction game.
1: Brazil is always disappointing
2: Never dismiss Argentina solely because of age.
3: Never bet against Spain in a knockout game, unless it is against the US.
Cipriano blocking Fotsis (?)
Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht
Artificial Nature
Please give this people some more coffee...
Half time 43-28 for Greece
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
