By Rigas Dardalis / dardalis@eurohoops.net
The generation of the players that are born in 1990, is one of the best in history of Greek basketball and after Olympiacos (who has Papanikolaou, Sloukas and Mantzaris), Panionios is now “investing” in it, as they kept Vlado Jankovic and they added Nikos Pappas. But the most notable move is that they team of Nea Smyrni signed another player who born in 1990 and has beaten all the above Greek.
Ashton Gibbs was a member of the National team of USA that won the gold medal in the world championship of under 19 in Oakland in 2009, as they beat in the final the Greek team of Jankovic and Pappas! Stephen Curry and Kley Thompson who now play together for the Warriors in the NBA were the big stars of that team, but Gibbs was a major contributor, as he was the team’s third best scorer (averaging 10 points per game) and the second bess passer, with 2,5 assists per game!
The Americans had beaten the Greek team 88-80 in the final and 85-69 in the first phase of the tournament. You can see in the following tables what Gibbs, Jankovic and Pappas had done in these two games as opponents.
Greece-USA 80-88 (final)
Player Points Rebounds Assists
Jankovic 8 4 3
Pappas 16 4 3
Gibbs 13 3 1
Greece-USA 69-85 (1st phase)
Player Points Rebounds Assists
Jankovic 9 4 –
Pappas 11 4 4
Gibbs 8 – –