LILLE (France) - Calculators out! Coach Vassilis Spanoulis pushed Greece to their first win of the Olympics, sending both them and Australia to 1-2 after three games.
The final score said 77-71, meaning Greece are at -8 points difference, while the Boomers drop to -4. Greece will finish third of the group while Australia are now waiting for Canada and Spain to finish their game in order to find out the final standings.
Turning point
Greece put a lot of pressure on the ball in the first half, provoking eight turnovers early in the second quarter to push away to a double digit lead.
It ballooned to 19 points in the third quarter, a margin which would've eliminated Australia from the Olympics, regardless of the final score in Canada vs Spain, because they would've either been the worst in a triangle with Spain and Greece, or worse than Greece in head-to-head at 1-2.
But the Boomers are too experienced to allow it to happen. Dyson Daniels led the offensive charge, with timely help from Jock Landale and Nick Kay, making it a single digit deficit in the opening minutes of the fourth.
Patty Mills joined the fun with a three-pointer to make bring them back to 69-65 with five minutes to play, and another long two by the Aussie legend made it a one-possession game with three minutes to go at 71-69.
However, Vasilis Toliopoulos and Thomas Walkup hit back-to-back three-pointers to put the game out of Australia's reach in the final minute.
Game hero
It's always Giannis Antetokounmpo when Greece win, he had 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, but this time around he had a lot of help from his teammates, too.
Walkup made four threes for 18 points, Toliopoulos scored 13 off the bench, Dinos Mitoglou also had 13, but as a starter.
Stats don't lie
Greece had 11 steals, forced 16 turnovers and won the points from turnovers 20-12, a big enough margin to win this game.
Bottom line
Greece now know they will finish third in the group. Australia has to wait for the Spain vs Canada result, nervous moments ahead of them, because they could be out with a Spanish win over Canada. They still could be second in this group, if Canada defeat Spain.
They said
"I believe all teams deserve to go through from this group. All of them played good basketball, had good and bad moments, sometimes you need a little bit of luck, also. Hopefully, luck will smile on us." - Kostas Papanikolaou, Greece, on the nervous wait if Greece are through or not
"A lot of times, what media writes is exaggerated, but a lot of times is based on what's true and what's real. If you look at the numbers from the first couple of games, whether it was rebounding, assists, defense, whatever - we needed to be better. But he would also say it doesn't matter, we win as a team and we lose as a team. Australia vs Giannis isn't how it is for us, and he'll tell you that." - Thomas Walkup, Greece, on NBL's preview of the game saying it's Australia vs Giannis, not Greece
"At halftime, and then the start of the third, it looked diabolical. So if we did get through, the way we finished the game gives us a chance, and if we do go through, we go through from second place, which is a pretty good result from this pool." - Australia head coach Brian Goorjian
"We're not disappointed (that we didn't protect a 19-point lead), this is a huge day for Greek basketball. We play against the best teams in the world, Canada won bronze medal last year, Australia won bronze medal in 2020 Olympic Games, Spain won gold medal, European champions, last year, and we were there, lost by two possessions. This is amazing for the Greek national team, after 15 years, so many years that we had one after another loss. What our players do, it's unbelievable." - Greece head coach Vassilis Spanoulis
Quick notes
Australia have lost back-to-back games at the group stage of the Olympics for the first time since 2012
Greece scored 53 points in the first half, the most for them in the first 20 minutes since they had 56 against Korea in 1996
Greece dished out 22 assists, the most for them in a game at the Olympics since 1996, when they had 23 assists against Brazil
Patty Mills now has a total of 541 points at the Olympics, fifth most in competition's history, surpassing Wlamir Marques (537), sitting 50 points behind Luis Scola in 4th spot
Giannis Antetokounmpo has 81 points in his first three games, the fourth most among all players in their first three games at the Olympics (Luka Doncic 85, Oscar Moglia 82, Chicho Sibilio 82)
FIBA