By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Lille, France – Switching to the next game is the task for Thomas Walkup. He was limited to 1/7 field goals in a five-point showing to go with four assists, three steals, and two rebounds as Greece fell to Canada in the opening game for both national teams in the 2024 Olympic Games on Saturday.
“It was enough at parts of the game and it was obvious when it was and it was obvious when it was not,” he illustrated the team effort in Gameday 1 of Group A, “It came down to just a little lack of physicality there in the first quarter, physicality and intensity. It ultimately cost us a game.”
Bouncing back on Tuesday, Greece faces Spain in Gameday 2 of the preliminary round.
“It is the Olympics, there is not a time for tiredness or anything,” commented the Texas native, naturalized Greek point guard, “Everybody is fresh. Everybody has so much adrenaline in these games. And it is just about executing and bringing the physicality to the game.”
“It is easy now,” he replied to a question about preparing for the next contest, “I think it is easier to learn a lesson for the game when there are parts of it that give you the recipe. And there in that second half really gave us the recipe of how we need to play. It is something that we did not know, but to do it against the team of their quality is just even more reinforcing.”
Walkup, 31, previously represented Greece in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, before this summer’s FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Piraeus leading to Paris 2024.
Photo Credit: FIBA