The déjà vu of National Basketball

We’ve seen this play before, it’s déjà vu now…

It occurred to us for the first time on November 24, 2017, when we had to take it out by zapping because the national team was playing against Great Britain in Leicester and Panathinaikos against Real Madrid in OAKA at the same time…

History repeated itself on November 25, 2021, when the National Team faced the British in Newcastle (and even experienced defeat) and Panathinaikos welcomed Zenit St. Petersburg to the OAKA.

And the bad is coming tonight, when again a match with Harry Kane’s compatriots is riding on the match between Olympiakos and Baskonia!

Let’s separate straws between two donkeys

“Let’s get organized, guys”as a shocking joke says: let’s get organized because, hell, the vapidity and the absurdity with the coincidence of the matches of the National teams and the EuroLeague are failing.

Let’s manage, devil, to separate two straws!

So let’s be in Old Albion again and in London where the national team has a job…

I purposely write this to match the ““Thuria of London”with the title “I have a job in London”written in May 1971 by Panathinaikos’ international defender, Frangiskos Sourpis, before the final of the European Champions Cup with Ajax.

We also have a job to do in London, in the hope of not experiencing a third consecutive thriller again, as happened on our previous two visits.

Redemption by the Athenian and the misfortune of… Kamperidis

The first time, on November 24, 2017 in Leicester, the English had us on the ropes for good and ripped our livers and souls out of us, but we shrugged it off with that epic three-pointer by Yannis Athenaios, three and a half seconds before the end of extra time. (95-92)

“Luckily we didn’t get hurt.”as an old joke says!

What we didn’t experience then, we were supposed to… bathe on November 25, 2021, when again in the context of the World Cup qualifying phase we left Newcastle with the tail at the ends (69-78) and the treacherous Savvas Kamberidis who he replaced the sick Sotiris Manolopoulos was less fortunate than him Thanasis Skurtopoulos…

With these and with those, the National Team faces the so-called pro-28^or times in history, in a merry-go-round that includes 16 matches with… pure England (1961-1981) and 11 with the expanded Great Britain (1984-2022), counting 24 wins and three losses.

The American, Goumas and Galis

The National Team met the citizens of the late Queen Elizabeth for the first time on May Day 1961 as part of the final phase of the EuroBasket – coached by Phaidos Matthaiou – and crushed them 78-43, led by George American who scored 28 points.

Twelve years later, on May 7, 1973, in the EuroBasket qualifiers held in Sobateli, Hungary, with Kostas Mourouzis on the bench, he defeated them 88-81, led by Vassilis Goumas (23 points) and Steve Giatzoglou. (21 p.)

The next act of the project took place on May 5, 1981 in Istanbul, where, in the context of the EuroBasket Challenge Round of the same year, the Greek team prevailed 80-74 (Galis 30, Giannakis 17, Kastrinakis 11, Koronaios 10) .

The… crime one philhellenic!

23 days passed and the English found themselves again on the road of the national team, in the final phase of the competition, in Bratislava and we were treated like a salty peanut!

And how?

They threw us on the canvas (62-64) with a basket scored late in the match by Paul Stimpson.

The Phil-Hellenic English guard who for 25 consecutive years was the head of the FIBA ​​television rights department scored at the end and after 36 years not only has he not forgotten it, but on the one hand he considers this moment the highlight of his career and on the other hand he even now the relative casura in the “Dragon”, whenever they meet!

She sees him and laughingly asks him the same question…

“Do you remember where your did I end it?”

We remember it, Paul, how can we forget it?

Norm Sloan on the bench

By the way, the English had appeared in the final stage of the European Championship since 1961, while the previous year (1980), on their bench for the Pre-Olympic Tournament sat the American Norm Sloan, NCAA champion in 1974 with North Carolina State and coach for a moon in the 1989-90 Elysian season in A2!

That loss to England was the third of six defeats suffered by the national team in the final stage of EuroBasket 1981, before defeating Germany and Turkey to at least save the pretense…

The compositions of the two teams:

• GREECE: Galis 17, Andritsos 4, Giannakis 13, Petropoulos, Katsoulis, Vidas, Koroneios 6, Zois, Papageorgiou, Kastrinakis 14, Karatzoulidis, Kokolakis 8. Coach: Giannis Ioannidis.
• ENGLAND: Stimpson 22, Tatham 6, Hartley, McCauley, Day 2, Dan Lloyd 8, David Lloyd 14, Hopkins, Richards 8, Burns 4, Berry. Coach: Victor Amber.

The craze in Paris

Three years later, the second tile fell on our heads!

On May 20, 1984, as part of the Pre-Olympic Tournament in Paris, the British defeated the National team again, this time in a … crazy match with 106-104 (without overtime), with Roland Way, who scored 30 points, the executioner.

At halftime, the Greek team was leading 62-53, but then – and despite Nikos Galis’ 45 points – suffered the fatal blow to their attempt to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympic Tournament.

The compositions of the two teams:

• GREECE: Galis 45, Katsoulis 20, Karatzoulidis 1, Papapetrou, Giannakis 12, Andritsos 2, Stavropoulos 8, Filippou 4, Fasoulas 12, Romanidis, Vidas, Missas. Coach: Kostas Politis
• GREAT BRITAIN: Tatham 11, Grain, Hardway 6, Johnson 23, Samson 18, Spade, Archibald, Stimpson 6, Geremins, Way 30, Ballygan 10, Mullinger 2. Coach: Victor Amber.

The Nila in Newcastle

The streak was bloodless for 37 consecutive years and the streak was broken on November 25, 2021 in Newcastle, where the hosts came back from -15 (33-48) to prevail 78-69.

The compositions of the two teams:

• GREAT BRITAIN: Olaseni 13, Williams 3, Okerefor 19, Nelson 10, Philip 16, Hamilton 8, Mockford 4, Clarke 2, Bigby-Williams 2, Ogunlege
• GREECE: Katsivelis 5, Agravanis 19, Muratos 4, Giannopoulos 2, Saloustros 3, Rogavopoulos 6, Chrysikopoulos, Kavvadas 4, Kaklamanakis 3, Gondikas 4, Gikas 14, Lountzis

Galis’ 101 points

After the two consecutive defeats, the National team “ran” a 6-0 streak in official matches and after the third defeat, another victory followed:

• 100-70 on September 11, 1984 in Helsinki (Challenge Round Eurobasket, Galis 30, Katsoulis 20).
• 107-66 on October 29, 1987 in Thessaloniki (Eurobasket qualifying phase, Galis 40, Stergakos 16, Giannakis 14).
• 84-76 on February 3, 1988 at Crystal Palace (Eurobasket qualifying phase, Giannakis 26, Fasoulas 17, Stavropoulos 16, Galis absent).
• 101-72 on July 6, 1988 in Rotterdam (Pre-Olympic Tournament, Galis 31, Giannakis 19).
• 95-92 in overtime (83-83), on November 24 in Leicester (World Cup qualifying phase (Bourousis 27, Larentzakis 22, Athenaiou 18).
• 75-70 on February 25, 2018 in Heraklion (World Cup qualifying round (Vassilopoulos 15, Bourousis 15, Athenaiou 14).
• 93-71 on June 30, 2022 in Larissa (World Cup qualifying round, Dimitris Itoudis debut, Agravanis 16, Papagiannis 14, Dorsi 13, Papapetrou 13, Bohorides 11, K. Antetokounmpo 10).

John’s dramatic message

On top of that, the national team also defeated Great Britain in four friendly matches, three of which took place within eleven days in the summer of 2017:

• 95-62 on August 18, 2013 in Heraklion (Kaimakoglou 16, Vougioukas 12).
• 92-64 on August 8, 2017 in Patras (Printezis 12, Pappas 12).
• 72-68 on August 18 in London (Pappas 22, Papanikolaou 12) and 88-84 on August 19 again in London (Pappas 22, Sloukas 11, Papagiannis 11), on the day of… the dramatic announcement by Giannis Antetokounmpo that he will be absent from the Eurobasket and while Bourousis, Printezis and Papapetrou had stayed in Athens due to gastroenteritis!

Us he brought her a own us!

In addition to the men, the youth national team was also lucky to see the English roots upside down on July 11, 2014 in Dios Aorakia.

That night in the context of the Youth Eurobasket, the British coached by the Greek, ex-Duke player and assistant coach of the men’s national team, Andreas Kapoula, shocked the Greek team 66-69 (Bochorides 14) with a three-pointer by Luke Nelson from eight and a half meters at the end of the race!

Women and Baldock

In contrast, the victory achieved by the Women’s National Team with 73-66, on November 11, 2021 in Manchester in the premiere of the qualifying phase of EuroBasket 2023 works.

Tonight the Greek flags will fly in London for the second time in 42 days: on October 10, on a historic night and in the shadow of the death of George Baldock, the National Football Team conquered Wembley, beating the “Three Lions” 2-1. who however came back wild and roaring a week ago and thrashed us 3-0.

• PS: In the intro I called the National team “career”: yes, it’s called that, because the players present fill in for starters who have EuroLeague and NBA commitments. But they open the windows wide and take the team out on the terrace and certainly deserve honorable mention for their effort, success, dedication and love for the national emblem.