Greece’s 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup campaign in Nanjing, China has gotten off to a positive start, beating their first opponent Montenegro on Sunday, 85-60.
Greece was the dominant team, taking the lead 17-9 after the first quarter, and followed into the second, 25-7, opening a 42-16 lead at half-time.
Veteran forward Giorgos Printezis led Greece with 16 points, while reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo’s performance was certainly a highlight, with 10 points in just 16 minutes.
After the win, head coach Thanasis Skourtopoulos was feeling optimistic, but also had plenty of praise for Montenegro.
“This is a good day for us, because we managed to begin the competition with a victory. However, it wasn’t an easy game, and the score doesn’t reflect how difficult it was for us,” he said.
“Montenegro have a good team. I didn’t expect the score to be so large. We played with a serious mentality, and for the first game of the tournament I thought that we played with a good concentration level.”
READ MORE: FIBA World Cup: Five things you need to know
The Greek National Team has two more matches lined up in Group F this week:
- Brazil, Tuesday 3 September, 3.00 pm
- New Zealand, Thursday 5 September, 3.00 pm*
SCORES
1st Quarter: GR 17 – MNE 9
2nd Quarter: GR 25 – MNE 7
3rd Quarter: GR 21 – MNE 22
4th Quarter: GR 22 – MNE 22
Total: GR 85 – MNE 60
* Greece local time.
