GRE/BRA – Greece win but Brazil impress

ATHENS (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men) - Greece beat Brazil 72-65 on Monday in a preview of a next week’s showdown between the same two sides in Group A of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens.

Antonis Fotsis, absent at the EuroBasket last year in Spain with a finger injury, drilled four of five shots from behind the arc on his way to 19 points to lead the Greeks while Vasilis Spanoulis made all three of his long-range attempts and scored 16.

Greece were 11 of 21 from three-point range, yet they struggled to put the Brazilians away and even trailed 65-64 with 3:40 remaining before closing the game on an 8-0 run.

Greece coach Panagiotis Yannakis, whose team beat Slovenia and Puerto Rico at the Supercup in Germany over the weekend, said: “The spectators watched a close game. We committed some turnovers and missed some two-point shots we shouldn’t have missed.

“Tonight’s game was a good lesson for us in order to be taught how to be patient in order to win when we fall behind.”

The home side got baskets from Spanoulis, Theo Papaloukas, Ioannis Bourousis and Panagiotis Vassilopoulos at the end to clinch the victory.

Alex Garcia had 15 points to pace Brazil, with Marcelo Huertas and Tiago Splitter pouring in 12 apiece and Marcelinho Machado eight.

Playmaker Huertas, voted to the ACB’s Ideal Quintent after a fantastic season at Bilbao, also had seven assists.

“We have players with less experience than Greece, which is one of the top teams in the world,” Huertas said.

“We are working to someday reach that level in international basketball and we’ll try to get better game by game.”

Huertas has take on a more prominent role with some of the NBA-based Brazilians like Leandro Barbosa, Anderson Varejao and Nene unable to play at the qualifying event where three places for the Beijing Games will be up for grabs.

“I don’t want to talk about the players who are not here,” he said.

“This is a team that works hard and fits very well as a group.”

Brazil coach Moncho Monsalve, who took the reins of the team in January, saw some encouraging signs from his team.

“As a coach I tend to look a lot at the statistics,” he said.

“With the score at 64-65, we missed some open shots and failed to win the game.

“In the waning minutes, I chose to play with five players that have no international experience.

“Greece is one of the best four or five teams in the world. You all know that.”

He then highlighted Greece’s excellent three-point shooting.

“Our opponents, especially Fotsis, had a great percentage in three-pointers whereas we only shot five out of 22,” Monsalve said.

“Greece has participated in other tournaments, while Brazil has only played two friendlies against Venezuela.”

The result did not matter, he insisted, since it is only a warm-up event for next week’s qualifying tournament.

“I don’t care about winning this game and the tournament,” Monsalve said.

“I want to go to the Olympics. So, overall, I’m happy with today’s game.”

For Greece, Bourousis chipped in 10 points and Vassilopoulos nine.

Greek guard Nikos Zisis, who suffered serious facial injuries after getting hit by an Anderson elbow at the 2006 FIBA World Championship and missed the rest of that tournament as a result, played more than 26 minutes and contributed eight points.

FIBA