ATHENS (Greece) - In 1987, Greece hosted the FIBA EuroBasket and won it for the first time, beating the Soviet Union in a thrilling Final, 103-101.
The Soviets had won 14 of the 24 EuroBaskets before that great moment in Greek hoops history, when Nikos Galis poured in 40 points and averaged 37 for the tournament. Panagiotis Giannakis was the point guard in that side and later became the national team coach.
At that time, another future basketball star named Nikos - Nikos Zisis - was four years old.
In 2005, Zisis helped Greece win the FIBA EuroBasket for a second time.
His best game was against Israel when he poured in 23 points in a 67-61 Greek win.
After beating Andrei Kirilenko and Russia in the Quarter-Finals, Greece famously came from being down seven points in the last forty seconds to stun France in the Semi-Finals before rolling to a big win over tournament MVP Dirk Nowitzki and Germany in the title game.
The third time Greece captured lightning in a bottle was the very next year when they upset USA 101-95 in the Semi-Finals of the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Japan.
Before that historic win, however, Zisis jumped into the spotlight with his biggest play in the tournament in a group-of-death game against Australia in Hamamatsu.
After Antonis Fotsis tied the game at 69-69 with a three-pointer, Theo Papaloukas came up with a steal and a couple of seconds later Zisis drilled a three-pointer for a 72-69 victory.
Greece, led by coach Giannakis, had a team that never panicked.
Another story of the crazy comeback culture from this group? At EuroBasket 2007 in Spain. Greece were down 16 points against Slovenia in the Quarter-Finals with only six minutes to play. Yet Greece won, 63-62. There was an enormous amount of confidence in this squad. They were fun to watch.
Zisis is now the general manager of the Greece men's national team and also serves on the FIBA Players' Commission.
He was with the national team last year when they played at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Manila and finished 15th out of the 32 teams.
One of the best players in the sport, two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, and several players that compete at the highest level in Europe, are the national team squad.
Antetokounmpo wasn't able to take part in the World Cup campaign after having a knee operation, and Greece big man Kostantinos Mitoglu also got hurt just before the start of the event.
Greece were, therefore, not at full strength. The team is No. 14 in the FIBA World Ranking, Presented by Nike.
"The truth is that it was a very challenging this past summer," Zisis said. "We had very many health issues, many guys with physical problems.
"And some guys that had played for the national team so many years in a row and they decided to rest for the summer. As far as our roster and how things progressed, some of the physical problems happened in the last month before the tournament, the training camp."
Greece never lost their fight in Manila. After falling to the USA in the Second Round, Greece had a must-win game against New Zealand and trailed by 15 points yet battled back to win, 83-74. Greece next lost, however, to Lithuania before falling in a hard-fought game to Montenegro, 73-69.
"I believe we did the best possible," Zisis said. "It was a big challenge that we were down 11. points at half-time against New Zealand … I can't say anything about the effort. The guys there did their best in order to honor this jersey and represent our country but it wasn't enough to make the next step to get to the Quarter-Finals and compete for higher goals."
Since that time, Greece have appointed Zisis' former Greece teammate, Vassilis Spanoulis, as coach. Piraeus has also been selected to host one of the four FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournaments this summer.
"We're very happy to have Vasilis Spanoulis as our head coach," Zisis said. "We believe that he's a guy that knows perfectly what national team means and he can transmit this to our players to inspire them and obviously he's also a coach that’s doing very well in his very recent coaching career."
Spanoulis, in his second season as coach of Peresteri, coached Greece to two victories in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers in last month's international window.
At the OQT, to be held July 2-7, Greece will take on Egypt and the Dominican Republic in Group B and, if they advance, then face two teams that come out of Group A which has Slovenia, New Zealand, and Croatia.
"For us, I believe it's two challenges," Zisis said. "Try to organize the best possible OQT from an organizational standpoint. Greece has a good tradition of organizing good tournaments. We are people that like hospitality.
"For us, it’s a big challenge. Together, the Greek Federation with FIBA will try and do the best possible organizing the tournament from an organizational standpoint. For us, it’s an important challenge to organize such a tournament after 16 years, again an OQT for the Beijing Olympic Games that I had the chance to play. So we are very excited that we’re going to play in a crowded arena with our fans.
"Obviously, we know the level is really high. Slovenia, led by Luka Doncic; Croatia, having so many good NBA players that are actually in good seasons.
"Now we are mid-season in the NBA and Europe and we see they’re playing well.
"Then we see the Dominican Republic, a ton of talent, and teams that are underdogs like New Zealand and Egypt.
"But you cannot underestimate anyone. The format is also another huge challenge. We're playing four games, hopefully, in five nights.
"Above all is our players to be healthy. We're already in communication with them and we believe we're going to have a full squad."
Meanwhile, Zisis is doing his best to help professionals in Greece as a member of the Players' Commission.
"I am retired and I look at things in a different way," he said. "At the same time, I have retired a few years ago. So, having experience as a player but also as a manager with the national team, I can give my input to the commission."
This is his second term on the commission.
"My first experience, during Covid, I didn't have the opportunity to come here (to the House of Basketball).
"I believe it can be much more useful to come here once or twice a year because it brings a different dynamic to our commission. It was a very productive day with the fact that it wasn’t a Zoom call. Sometimes it's a different thing.
"Of course, every meeting can't be here. The fact that I'm close to the players now as a retired player being the GM of the Greek national team and also at the same time having big experience in FIBA competitions and the EuroLeague, I played for so many years, it gives me joy.
"Basketball has given me so much and now, it's a good opportunity for me to give back to basketball and it's an honor to be around so many players that I played against."
FIBA