Mondobasket 2023, Greece – Montenegro 69-73: a bitter end for the national team in the World Cup

Greece ended the 2023 World Cup finals with a defeat against Montenegro (69-73) in the second round of the second stage, and exited Manila with a negative result (2-3), with a fifteenth place and with a lot of disappointment mainly for the Greek national team. Photo in the match against Lithuania.

Our squad did not have Thanasis Antetokounmpo represented on Sunday (9/3) who played injured in the previous two matches, he went with ten players in his last match at MundoBasket 2023 and apart from Bohorides – Papapetrou, he did not have anyone else in good shape. condition. Itoudis gave playing time to players who were not giving much effort and the team’s summer trip ended with another loss and a 4-7 record in friendlies and official matches.

Montenegro, a country with a population of 620,000 (smaller than the population of Thessaloniki), left Kendrick Perry out of the game, but he cruised to the win with relative ease to conclude his trip to MundoBasket 2023 on a positive note.

Race

With Walkup, Moraitis, Rojavopoulos, Papanikolaou, Papagianni, the national team opened the match, which was -8 (5-13) after six minutes of the match, the score was also -10 and they had a big problem in attack in general. Itoudis kept Walkup on the floor throughout the first quarter, and Papapetrou fouled for 12-17 in the final, as Greece was 5/10 from 2-pointers and 1/5 from 3-pointers, with four assists to four turnovers.

Bouhorides’ three-pointers at the start of the second half closed the gap (20-21 in the 12th minute), while Itoudis also passed the ball to Papapetrou. Bohorides was impressive throughout the quarter, also scoring a foul at 30-36, while Montenegro maintained control without major problems, with good ball circulation and Vucevic standing on the bench. At the end of the first half, Montenegro had scored 14/26 shots, but the number that had made the difference until then had been the only two errors. They did not waste the ball and were fair in front of them.

Although Greece had a poor start to the match, they were equally poor in the second half. The difference reached 12 (34-46 in the 25th minute) and the third quarter ended with a score of 42-50, as the national team tried to find a series of good stages on both sides of the floor, but it did not succeed. A three-pointer from Radoncic and an offensive error from Greece at the beginning of the fourth quarter once again led to a double-digit lead, with the game decided and Hatzidakis injured in the 32nd minute.

The ending was bittersweet, but tomorrow the countdown to the Olympic preparatory tournament begins. And there Greece will have to go to conquer it. Neither good offers nor anything less should be targeted. One task finished and another began.

Rulers: Garcia, Baez, Prax

Contracts: 14-19, 30-36, 42-50, 69-73

Hellas (Etodis): Bouhorides 13 (3/3 2-pointers, 2/2 3-pointers, 1/3 shots, 6 rebounds), Hatzidakis 2, Larentzakis (0/5 3-pointers, 4 rebounds, 4 assists), Lountzis. 2, Moraitis, Papagiannis 5 (2/8 shots, 4 rebounds), Papanikolaou 13 (3/5 three-pointers, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Papapetrou 16 (6/10 two-pointers, 0/6 three-pointers, 4/ 5 shots), Rogavopoulos 7 (3/9 shooting), 11 walks (4/5 2 shots, 3 1/4 shots, 6 assists)

the black Mountain (Radovic): Drombniak 4, Dubjevic 4 (9 rebounds, 9 assists), Ivanovic 7 (1), Mihajlovic 10 (1), Popović 5, Radoncic 12 (1), Radović 8 (4/6 2 shots), Simonović. 2, Slavkovic 2, Vucevic 19 (9/16 2 shots, 7 rebounds).

Greece team statistics: 18/32 2-pointers, 8/30 3-pointers, 9/13 steals, 32 rebounds (21 defensive – 11 offensive), 18 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks, 14 turnovers, 23 fouls

Montenegro national team statistics: 25/45 2-pointers, 3/17 3-pointers, 14/20 shots, 41 rebounds (28 defensive – 13 offensive), 20 assists, 8 steals, 12 turnovers, 23 fouls

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