POD: Macedonia vs. Greece-9.5 (4K units) W
PREVIEW
The first game of Group A in Poznan will feature Greece and FRYOM, two neighbor countries with a lot of political history, but none on the basketball court, yet.
Greece arrive to the competition as a riddle. After many years with Coach Panagiotis Yannakis, now there's a new boss on the bench in the face of the former Euroleague champion Lithuanian Jonas Kazlauskas, who coached the Chinese national team until the 2008 Olympics.
The Greeks were a dominating force in world basketball since winning EuroBasket 2005 and had a very unique and typical game style everybody around the continent knew to recognize even if you had taken off the names off the team jersey. Which face will Greece carry under the first foreigner coach of their national team since 1979?
On the other end of the court there will wait an ambitious underdog that has nothing to lose.
Other than Great Britain, in their first ever EuroBasket performance, FYROM is not only the team with the fewest performances in the competition among the present 16, but also the one with the biggest time gap from their last visit.
Ten years after their debut performance in 1999, the absence of FYROM is over and they are here to show Europe they can go at least one step further than ten years ago when they lost all three games.
Will they write their first ever EuroBasket win already on opening day against the noisy neighbors from the south, or keep the fantasy going for at least one more day?
Head-to-head: Actually, there was never any official game between Greece and FYROM. The two neighbors have never faced each other in any senior competition, so this game will be a special occasion.
Stats: Todor Gecevski was FYROM's main man in the qualifying round. He was their third top scorer (13.6), best rebounder (6.6), third top passer (2.1) and best shot blocker (1.0). In order for FYROM to have a good run in EuroBasket 2009, they need the versatility of the long haired big guy, especially with the impressive line-up the Greek team is bringing to the court.
Key Match-Up: Vrbica Stefanov and Nikos Zisis are the key point guards of each side. Stefanov is a veteran who came back from retirement to lead his team in his last performance on court as a basketball player. Zisis is at the top of his career playing for elite clubs as CSKA Moscow and Montepaschi Siena. If Stefanov is able to run the FYROM game as he wishes, his team will have a good chance to remain in the game and put up a fight for the Greek side. Zisis will need to eliminate him on defense, but keep the Greek offense on the move at the same time.
X-Factor: Coach Jovica Arsic had two options when he needed to pick the neutralized player to perform for FYROM, each in a totally different role - Point Guard Darius Washington and Power Forward Jeremiah Massey. He went with the later in hope the US spring will make the difference with his presence around both rims of the floor. Having playing in Greece for many years in the past might be another x-factor in favor of Massey who will focus a lot of attention from the Greek defense. (FIBA Europe)
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