Such a foul as that of Costas Papanikolaou in 3 seconds has often been carried out by the Spaniards in the past… It has also been called in favor of the Turks. And many other European teams. For years such decisions only applied to Greece. So neither Mahmutoglu nor anyone else has the right to speak. That’s what happens in basketball, he doesn’t have to yell or create a situation in the face of Monday’s game.

Costas Papanikolaou scored at least one home whistle and Greece beat Turkey thanks to his own shots. But the only truth is that our national team deserved to win in Ano Liossia. It would be totally unfair to lose and be five feet away from the 2023 World Cup. Greece remains a major basketball power, and now that everyone is looking excited and united, they have a prime opportunity to grow. It’s always been high in the world rankings, but now it’s time to expand on its legacy.

Of course, our national team turned out to be almost the ideal suicide. Big differences came twice (52-37 and 66-56) but Sain Larkin’s Turkey had to come back and take that fate into their own hands. However, in a scene reminiscent of the match between Olympiacos and Efes, the Turks failed in their last attack, giving Greece time and Costas Papanikolaou got the foul in 3 seconds. But even if there was no offense, there was time for a shot in good conditions. Therefore, no one knows what would happen.

Thanks to Costas Papanikolaou and his accuracy in critical shots (73% players from the line in EuroLeague), Greece survived and spread joy to over 7-8000 people creating incredible atmosphere in Ano Liossia. He won because Greece couldn’t lose that game. Let’s not forget that he also played at the stadium that hosts AEK, so the title attack fits the occasion.

Justification of two months of effort

It was generally a justification for the efforts made by all Greek basketball in the last two months to achieve this victory that keeps the national team alive in the qualifying fight.

The choice of this seat fully justified the federation, it is perhaps the basketball court in Greece where people stand off the ground and help the team in their own way.

Panathinaikos risked his own match to help the representative team with Papagiannis. And he even had to declare it in a EuroLeague game three hours later, just in case.

Olympiacos gave up five of his players to the national team, although four of them had played for Armani Milano 20 hours earlier. And finally it was Papanikolaou who signed the big win with the two shots.

Overall, everyone involved in basketball mobilized in Greece and stood by the national in this game against Turkey. Whoever was at the event to sponsor OPAP recognized that there is an effort to reunite all Greeks.

No, of course that’s enough. Victory has come, but qualification still has a long way to go. Just a loss would be catastrophic. Turkey are already stirring up spirits against Greece, and now it’s games without tomorrow if they want to win the game in Istanbul.

The EuroLeague is to blame for everything

Monday’s game in front of 10,000 spectators isn’t that easy, if of course there’s still a win there, Greece will definitely go through to the qualifying round. The national team will carry the defeat to Great Britain to the end, which of course is due to the way the qualifiers were conducted and the EuroLeague’s irritating attitude towards FIBA. If Greece – and every team with EuroLeague players in their roster – were complete in all games, it wouldn’t look like any of the games against Turkey would have a final.

On the other hand, the defeat by Britain helped rally all forces around the National, with the Federation handling the situation appropriately. After all, Turkey is going to the windows with Shane Larkin, an American who got a passport, gets money to play in the national team and, of course, is a player with a €3 million contract. The neighbors have long since taken their measures, seeing evil coming, little by little other federations across Europe are following. No matter how painful it is for the athletes, no matter how much risk the clubs take, it is now clear to everyone that national teams have tremendous value and participating in a World Cup is a big deal for any country’s basketball.

And something about how to qualify

Some may still be confused about the qualification system, so let’s remember what the road to the World Cup is like.

The three of the four teams in each group in the first stage advance to the second, broadcasting ALL results. For example, Greece is now 2-1 with three games left. A 5:1 would be ideal, 4:2 would be good, with 3:3 it will be difficult. He plays Turkey away on Monday and has two more games in the June windows, with Britain in and Belarus out. Logically, the EuroLeague players will be there again, so a 4:2 is possible.

In the second phase it will face the teams of the first group (logically Serbia, Latvia and Belgium, who today have a 2-1 record like Greece) and will play 6 more games. The two ahead of Eurobasket 2022 (meaning the teams will come with full rosters as it will be like a pre-match for the big date), two more in November and two more in February 2023.

Of the 6 teams in the second phase, the top 3 qualify for the World Cup.