Gianmarco Pochettino can sleep easy: Giannis Antetokounmpo will be present at the World Cup finals, even if it requires a thriller for our team in Belgium with a score of 72-70 and another equally dramatic victory for Serbia over Turkey with a score of 77-76 in Belgrade a combination that in any case ensures the “white-blue” no matter what happens in the last two matches! The qualification came with the great protagonist Yannulis Larentsakis, not only because with 4/4 threes he turned the game on its head at a very critical moment, but also because with a great defense in the last phase he won against the striker and did not let the Belgians prevail victory in almost dead time!

The tremendous energy that our team showed in defense, led the home team to a record number of mistakes (17 in the first half, 26 in total) and filled the “black hole” under the baskets, where one rebound was lost after another, characterized by an incredible… 10-1 about halfway through the first half. A dismal 1/10 percentage in 3-pointers goes a long way to explaining our team’s only 31 at halftime, balanced by a terrific defense that capped the Belgians at 34 despite their absolute dominance in the rebounding battle. The situation changed in the second half, where, despite the quick removal of Bohoridis with two technical penalties, our team found a solution from the periphery and with 8 three-pointers compared to one in the first half brought victory.

The reinforcement of five Euroleague level players (Kalatis, Papanikolaou, Larentsakis, Bohorides, Pan. Kalaitsakis), apart from Luntsis, who also played in Heraklion against Latvia, gave Dimitris Itoudis more opportunities, but did not provide the expected quality due to lack of uniformity. With a short training time, it was extremely difficult for everyone to find each other together, which manifested itself mainly in the creative part and in the obvious inability to threaten the Belgian ring from medium and long distances. Any decisions in the first half came mostly from “heroic” efforts through the racquet rather than free kicks, a product of good cooperation, something that changed in the second half.

However, the ridiculous things that have happened, centered around the dispute between FIBA ​​and the Euroleague, oblige all parties to find solutions before the situation reaches a dead end. The actions of, for example, the Serbs, who insisted on the admission of their national teams from the teams of the Euroleague, while their own teams did not give the same permission, as happened with Partizan’s refusal of Papapetru, led to such countermeasures as the actions of Ataman, who refused in resolution on Misic will play against Turkey! The tension between Panathinaikos and the EEC arose not only because the Greens did not let the overworked Papajannis into Belgium, but also because the federation’s note of protest did not mention the name of Sloukas, who, for the same reasons, did not get a license from Olympiacos!

Important “gift” of Serbia, outweighed by Turkey – the tragic situation with the team players.

Quarters: 19-19, 34-31, 55-58, 70-72.

BELGIUM: Bako 10, Gillette 3, Lieber, Embema 9 (2 trebles, 10 rebounds), Taboo 7 (1), Akiazili, De Zeuw 2, Leconte 5 (1), Obasohan 30 (7/9 doubles, 3/6 tr. , 7/7 shots), Stand 4, Van Vliet.

Hellas: Kalatis 13 (5/7 doubles, 1/3 triples, 10 assists, 2kg), Larentsakis 20 (2/4 doubles, 4/10 triples, 4/5 throws), Luntsis 6 (1), Papanikolaou 9, Tsalburis 3 (1), Bohorides, Charalambopoulos 3 (1), Gondikas 8 (4/4 dip.), Kalaitsakis 4, Tsairelis 6.

Tournament table: Latvia 7-1, Serbia 5-3, Greece 5-3, Turkey 3-5, Belgium 3-5, Great Britain 1-7.