By Rigas Dardalis/ dardalis@eurohoops.net
In Eurobasket 2013 the classic duel between Greece and France will not take place, but the mutual respect between the two sides is a given. It’s easy to understand it if you hear what Tony Parker had to say about the Greek national team and specially Vasilis Spanoulis.
As the French star said: “For sure it was a big surprise not to have Green in the top eight teams, but the best player of the team, Spanoulis, got injured and it was difficult for him after that to be 100% ready. He is the leader, the man who takes the crucial shots. That’s why Greece lost some games in the first round and then had to win every game in the second. They were in a difficult position and still managed to get a big win over Spain. If Spanoulis was 100% ready, they would be in the quarterfinals”.
The Spurs guard talked about all this over dinner in Ljubljana with the Greek player: “We talked about everything, European basketball, the NBA. He is been a great friend and I know him for a long time”.
The dinner between the two of them is customary in every Eurobasket, as you can see in this photo from 2007 in Spain. At that time Spanoulis has just been released by the Spurs and he had a meeting in Madrid with Parker and also with the team’s general manager R.C.Buford.
