VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - When Sofoklis Schortsanitis announced his retirement from basketball this week at 35 years of age, you no doubt harked back to the most famous game ever at a FIBA Basketball World Cup.

"Big Sofo", or "Baby Shaq", was 21 years old 14 years ago in Japan and a man mountain for Greece's national team that helped beat the star-studded USA, 101-95.

If the player never seemed entirely comfortable with the celebrity that that performance brought to him, he'll have to accept that his effort in a game that sent Greeks pouring into the streets of Athens in a delirious, joyous state, is going to be a signature performance that will always be talked about.

Schortsanitis, who stood 2.06m (6ft 9in) in height and weighed around 156kg (344lb), scored 14 points that afternoon in Saitama, Japan.

It was a Semi-Final against a star-studded American team that had young superstars LeBron James, Dywane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, among others.

Yet Schortsanitis reined supreme. Time after time after time, he set picks and then rolled to the basket and scored.

Any player that defended Schortsanitis over the years felt the weight of the assignment

Schortsanitis played just 17 minutes but landed the vital blows. He could have had an even bigger tally but missed four of his six free-throws.

Equally unforgettable was the look of a dazed Howard after the game, standing on the court and speaking to a few reporters. 

"He was getting the ball off pick-and-rolls," Howard said. "They were running the same play the whole second half and he was getting in there every time."

Schortsanitis didn't replicate the display in the Final as Spain limited him to a mere two points. His other notable stats in that 70-47 blowout for the Spaniards was three fouls in seven minutes.

A few years later, though, and Schortsanitis again had an earthquake like impact on a contest for the Greeks. In a FIBA EuroBasket 2009 Third Place Game against an impressive Slovenia, he led all scorers with 23 points in a 57-56 Greece triumph.

Schortsanitis scored 23 points against Slovenia as Greece reached the EuroBasket 2009 podium

Schortsanitis also played at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2010 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Turkey, where he had to sit out the first two games with a ban after his involvement in a fight against Serbia that had erupted in a pre-tournament friendly.

He never played for Greece again. That he put on the Hellas shirt for several years but stopped doing so in the prime of his career can't be criticized, especially considering his commitment to the Greece youth teams.

Schortsanitis featured in a Greek shirt for the first time at the 2001 European Championship for Cadets and was probably the best player in the sides that finished third at both the 2002 European Championship for Junior Men (he averaged 19.9 points and 8.9 rebounds) and the 2003 World Championship for Junior Men (18.1 points and 9.8 rebounds).

On the club scene, he in 2010-2011 Schortsanitis was an All-Euroleague selection with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

In his second stint with Maccabi(2013-14), Schortsanitis captured the Euroleague title. He got a taste of playing for iconic Greek clubs, spending several years (2005-2010) with Olympiacos, seasons with Panathinaikos (2012-2013), PAOK (2015-2016) and long before that with Aris (2004-2005).

Other teams he played for in Greece were Iraklis, Aries Trikala and Ionikos Nikaias, while in Italy he turned out for Cantu (2003–2004) and briefly in Serbia with Crvena zvezda in 2015.

Schortsanitis, who spent his entire career in Europe, in Italy, Greece, Serbia and Israel, announced his decision to stop playing basketball on Israeli television.

"With the situation right now around the world and with COVID and how things are going and the leagues struggling right now, I decided to step down. I decided to retire," Schortsanitis said to Israeli Sport 5. "I will have more time to spend with my family and that will give my wife also the opportunity to pursue her career."

So long, Sofo.

Jeff Taylor
FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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