The basketball team, in the most important test of its new era (until the next), has shown that it can create an ensemble that will take it back to the top after years of drought.

Although the great school Plavi was presented without key players in Thursday’s match (absent were Belitsa, Bogdanovic, Marjanovic, Nedovic, as well as the injured Mičić), the Greek team also had very important absences such as Papayannis, Papapetrou, Mitoglu and Kostas. Antetokumbō, who had also left, stood dignifiedly in the crowded and noisy Stark Arena in Belgrade.

What can we save from this derby?

First, the cohesion of a group of special conditions, such as a national group. Dimitris Itoudis and his team managed to create a group of players rather than a group of players who only look at individual promotion.

The national team seems to have clear roles and every player seems to have accepted them.

Secondly, perhaps, after the Galis era, the team was lucky to have such an obsessive and decisive player in their ranks. Giannis Antetokounmpo is an incredible gift to Greek basketball. Like the “gangster”, the Greek freak inspires awe in the opponents (post-match statements of the Serb serve as confirmation of this).

Pure racing, he does just about everything. From defense to attack. From squashing a tough player like Jokic for a “5” to hitting the racquet and ruining the opponent’s game with their incredible slips. From finishing off with an unexpected move already from … the center of the field, to gathering the entire opposing team on it and passing it to an unnoticed teammate.

Giannis is a huge asset to the national team that needs to be preserved and protected. But in modern basketball, no team wins with one player. And Greece may have had a good enough defensive alibi against Serbia, but little went well on the offensive.

The two most important elements that we were missing were creation and filming.

Nick Calathes is still far from his best form, with many mistakes, Slukash, despite 6 assists, did not pose a threat and did not hit the target. The national team tried to gnaw out the differences of the Serbs, and when the score was reopened, the operation of returning to the match began again.

The Greek team did not manage to impose their game. On the one hand, because the Serbs closed the transitions of the 1st period and brought Greece to the set (that is, where it hurts), on the other hand, because the blows that our opponents delivered did not go. Tellingly, Dorsey, the team’s cleanest shooting guard, scored 16 points, but with 4/10 3s, 2/4 2s, Slukas only 2 and Kalatis 5.

If this decisive trio does not “come out” to the matches, then the national team will have serious problems. Giannis’ 40 points and Thanasis’ 12-point “flash” look… nice on glass and paper, but in essence they show Greece’s attacking short circuit against Serbia in a set game.

The national team has the luxury of playing Giannis Antetokounmpo for them, but the rest of our players need to get in the game as soon as possible, find their footing with the reunion of Papagianni and Papapetrou. With a roster like this year, it would be a shame not to seize the opportunity by the hair.