PIRAEUS (Greece) - Egypt put up a fight, but Greece did not disappoint in front of 11,216 fans in the stands of the Peace and Friendship Stadium. Even with Giannis Antetokounmpo resting, coach Vassilis Spanoulis guided his team to a 93-71 win over the African team.
Turning point
The hosts were probably a bit too relaxed, being the hot favorites to win this one. Egypt showed them exactly what they showed the rest of the world at the last FIBA Basketball World Cup, staying attached to the Greeks' hip during the first half and trailin by just 5 points, 46-41, early on in the third period.
Another Vasilis showed up to calm Greek nerves. A Charalampopoulos three-pointer stretched the gap into double digits, and once Kostas Papanikolaou and Georgios Papagiannis joined him, the lead ballooned to 61-45 at the end of the period.
There was no coming back from that deficit, and Greece could already start thinking about the matchup with Slovenia on Saturday.
TCL Player of the Game
This is Kostas Papanikolaou's home. The Olympiacos legend was feeling good and enjoying the cheers from the packed stands, getting to 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting, done in just 16 minutes.
Honorable mention goes out to Georgios Papagiannis, who had 16 points in 13 minutes, while Nick Calathes dished out 9 assists.
Stats don't lie
Pick your poison. Greece dominated the boxscore, but perhaps the biggest gap was in three-point shooting, as the hosts knocked down 12 of their 27 attempts, compared to Egypt's abysmal 4-of-21 performance.
Bottom line
Egypt learned a few lessons in Greece, and at times, it felt like they were just a couple of pieces away from legitimately fighting for wins at this event. But without Abdel Nader, Assem Marei and Ehab Amin, this was always going to be an uphill battle.
The biggest winner on the team was Ahmed Metwaly. The guard came off the bench again, and counted to 20 as the only player in double figures for coach Henrik Rodl.
Greece will enjoy a day off before the firecracker of a duel with Slovenia in the Semi-Finals. Coach Spanoulis spread the minutes between 11 guys, all 11 of them wrote their name on the scoresheet, and he can once again be happy with the three-point shooting, as six different players made at least one triple.
They said
FIBA