SAITAMA (FIBA World
Championship) - Greece players and their coach admitted that Spain were the
better prepared team as Spain defeated the Greeks 70-47 in the final of the FIBA
World Championship.
In the game of a life-time, the reigning European champions couldn't call up
their usual fighting spirit, as they were out-hustled by a motivated Spanish
team playing without injured center Pau Gasol.
"In three years we play one game very bad. Unfortunately it was the final.
But that happens. That's basketball," said Greek captain Mihalis Kakiouzis.
"Today our minds were gone. We played really bad, especially on defense. And
that's our speciality. They took advantage of all of our mistakes on defense."
The Spanish made 43 percent of their shots, but most importantly hit 12 of 30
three-pointers (40 percent) to initially pull away from the Greeks and then keep
them from coming back.
"The hardest thing is the way that we lost the game. They had us
hand-cuffed," added playmaker Theodoros Papaloukas.
"I think Spain was much more prepared than us today. They wanted the game
more. And for me, they really deserved the win."
Greek coach Panagiotis Yannakis said his team lost their faith in their game.
"My players today didn't have patience and concentration for the game. And
this was the problem. We try too fast to do something when Spain took the lead.
We lost some easy rebounds and that took our lose our faith for our game. It was
the same problem for everybody. Tonight we didn't have the passion to come
back," the coach said.
Greece are now left to think about what they gained from this tournament. And
then they will begin thinking about further tournaments in the future, including
next summer's EuroBasket in Spain.
"This was the first World Championship for me. I had a great time, and I hope
Greece will be here again and maybe win the gold medal next time," Papaloukas
said.
And Kakiouzis added: "I told some journalists that we would not be happy if
we lose tonight. And we are not happy with the silver. We want to try and win
everything. We deserved to be in the final. And it was a big day for us, winning
the first medal in the history of our country. But we wanted more. Now maybe we
can play Spain in the final next year for Europe."
Papaloukas said it will take a few days for the satisifaction of Greece's
first FIBA World Championship medal to sink in.
"Right now we have a strange feeling. But you say that a country of 10
million people beat the U.S.A. - a great team with great players - and they won
a silver medal with an 8-1 record, I think it's good. But you have to stay
focused. Life isn't done. We have more tournaments. This team is young. And
we're going to do a lot of things in the future."
And Papaloukas added: "Sometimes losses are more important than wins because
you learn things. I keep all the good things. And from this loss I have to
remember that this tournament is big and you have to wait until the end. Still,
it's a very big success for Greek basketball."
The playmaker said what's important is that Greece are the second best team
in the world.
"Nothing can take back any of the big things that we've already done. If we
had won everything here then we may not have the motivation for the future. Now
we have the motivation to work even harder and win the next time."
