By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Sergio Scariolo knows very well that a battle against Greece can’t be easy and Spain has to play its best in order to get to the medal round of Eurobasket 2015.
As he said: “We have to have a great game because with a good one, probably would not be enough. Our position as the highest-scoring team with the best offensive numbers is in danger of course. They are very good, solid and experienced and we must be prepared for a low scoring game, being able to respond in this area of the game by limiting their scoring”.
Scariolo didn’t provide any details about the conditions of injured Rudy Fernandez, Pau Gasol and Pau Ribas: “They are all a little better, but I will not go into any further details. Hopefully they will play”.
As for Greece he added: “All players are NBA or Euroleague Final Four level, all have important roles in their teams and players who do not enter the rotation are also very high level, which gives you an idea of its strength in depth. It is obvious that it is an extremely well-armed team. We had some very good defensive moments, very good defensive quarters, but we also had some break downs and we can not afford that against a team like Greece”.
Scariolo spoke also about Vasilis Spanoulis and the other “weapons” of Greece: “He is the one of the very great European players. It has all the dimensions in his game, he penetrates, defends, steals, makes big shots and he is a player who knows that to do, then to shot, to penetrate or pass. That’s an absolute quality. He is not a selfish player. Also the high performance of Kostas Koufos and Ioannis Bourousis proves their great form and that has to do also with the great tournament of Spanoulis, Calathes and Zisis. But you can’t avoid Spanoulis. You can try to limit him, since you want to beat Greece, not Spanoulis. There’s also Koufos and Antetokounmpo. The one is on the way of being an All Star and the other a very solid player”.