Itoudis praises Giannis’ management , explains Greece’s offensive fashion / Information

Dimitris Itoudis broke down Greece’s recreation in opposition to Italy, emphasizing the weather that helped his crew get their second EuroBasket victory.

Greece noticed Italy bounce again from a double-digit deficit within the fourth quarter, however nonetheless managed to carry on to their lead and in the end take their second win of their EuroBasket group in Milan.

Within the post-game presser, coach Dimitris Itoudis had a number of issues to say about his crew’s strategy to the competition, close to how Greece overcame the obstacles in doing battle with the group’s hosts. 

“I wish to congratulate my crew on the win. We stayed aggressive and refused to step again,” the Greek tactician mentioned,

“Sadly, our dangerous moments allowed Italy to come back again. Italy have been taking part in small-ball, with 5 males out and nice shooters in Melli and Polonara. We had some challenges having huge our bodies on the market.

In the long run, we misplaced the rebounding battle. I did not like our ball motion, however we’ll be taught from that. The nice factor is that (Giorgos) Papagiannis is again.”

Actually, Italy outrebounded Greece 42-38 and 15-7 on the offensive glass. That did not stop Greece from successful one other one since each Giannis Antetokounmpo and Tyler Dorsey have been as soon as once more unstoppable.

The Bucks famous person had 25 factors on 8/15 from the sector, and 11 rebounds, whereas the guard from Oregon boasted a scoring manufacturing of 23 factors on 6/10 field-goal taking pictures, near his current scoring excessive with the nationwide crew.

Requested about Giannis, Itoudis known as him “a particularly motivated and high-level participant, who can do many issues.”

“The truth that he is a terrific teammate makes him distinctive. He leads by instance in lots of areas. Basketball is a recreation, however this can be a sports activities society. Whenever you respect the sport and your teammates, you possibly can set the instance for the troublesome instances we’re going by,’ he added.

Itoudis has chosen a method of play that facilitates free movement on offense and gamers having sure freedom to go one-on-one or resolve in some conditions. Nonetheless, he thinks all the pieces is a matter of excellent spacing. 

“We’re a crew with gamers who can facilitate their teammates,” he identified.  

“Giannis, Nick, Tyler are a few of them. I’d be silly to drag again a crew with that high quality. That is why I all the time say we have to change into an actual crew. We now have so many early offense choices that we now have to make use of. It isn’t solely about freedom. It is about spacing and positioning,” he repeated.

In line with the skilled tactician, watching one’s gamers be aggressive on the courtroom can render any coach proud.

“Being aggressive despite the fact that you are damage or when issues are going south shouldn’t be given. You might want to convey that to the crew. We do not wish to lose it. We now have sensible gamers, however we have to talk higher. Tonight, we took a step in the direction of that.”

Itoudis emphasised that for a second straight night time, his facet misplaced the lead, including that “nobody is alone on the courtroom. We now have three extra huge groups to beat.”

With Greece at present standing at 2-0 and having crushed each Croatia and Italy, it seems like their strategy to EuroBasket’s last stage in Berlin has already been paved to a terrific extent. Nonetheless, Itoudis is having none of it. He recalled that the German metropolis is the place he received his first EuroLeague trophy as a head coach in 2016, however guiding his nationwide crew there can look ahead to now. 

“Berlin is a superb metropolis and I’ve many good reminiscences. However we’re in Milan now, specializing in Milan’s video games,” he mentioned.

Greece, obligated to make do with out their two main huge males, Giorgos Papagiannis and Kostas Antetokounmpo, have discovered methods to avoid their lack of our bodies. In that respect, they do bear a convincing resemblance to Italy’s five-out and small-ball techniques that Gianmarco Pozzecco has been pressured to implement.

“Italy have proven that they seem to be a high-energy crew. So, we had to decide on what we must always include essentially the most. So, we selected to change on protection. That gave us the possibility to danger, which you must calculate as a result of considered one of your bigs might be guarding the perimeter.

The danger we took was in our benefit as a result of our guards and forwards actually helped. I give Italy a number of credit score for by no means giving up. It was a terrific ambiance.”

Ahead Ioannis Papapetrou, who’s nonetheless struggling to get into recreation rhythm after lacking the most important a part of Greece’s prep video games and each World Cup qualifying video games, known as the sport vs. Italy “a hard-fought, entertaining recreation in a full enviornment.”

“We took the lead, however Italy got here again to the sport. In the long run, we confirmed our preventing spirit and received the sport,” he commented.