Game Summary

Turning point: Tip off was actually the turning point of the game, as Greece took over right from the start. Vasilis Spanoulis hit 11 first quarter points and Greece held an 18-3 lead after five minutes that kept increasing more and more until 28-10 right before the quarter buzzer. From there it was a one sided game, all the way to the 86-54 opening win.

Hero: Ioannis Bouroursis of Greece was the main reason his team enjoyed such a smooth start. The first play of Greece in the competition was to push the ball to him in the paint for a successful post-up move, and from there he continued to be a big presence on both ends of the floor. He locked the paint for the opponent to penetrate, controlled the rebounds and scored in great ease on the other side on his way to a great stat line of 11 points and eight rebounds.

Stats: F.Y.R. Of Macedonia didn't score a single two-point bucket the entire first quarter, in only three attempts. All their 13 first quarter points came from three point range or the foul line, and it was a great example of how much trouble they faced against the inside players of Greece. Their first basket inside the arc came only after 13 minutes and by then the gap was already 35-15 in favor of Greece.

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Greece was all over their neighbors from F.Y.R. of Macedonia on Monday afternoon as they opened EuroBasket 2009 with a convincing 86-54 victory.

Vasilis Spanoulis had 17 points in the win.

There was very little place for doubt who's the boss on the court, as the Greeks wrote a double-digit gap already

Greece Head Coach Jonas Kazlauskas had his troops in top form.

in the early minutes.

The players of Jovica Arsic didn't find the way to handle the massive front line of Greece, and scored their first two-point basket only after 13 minutes in the game, and by then the margin was already 20.

Vasilis Spanoulis was the top scorer for Greece with 17 points and four rebounds, Sofoklis Schortsanitis and Ioannis Bourousis added 11 each while Efstratios Perperoglou added 10.

Jeremiah Massey led F.Y.R Of Macedonia with 12 points, and was the only player to score in double-digits.

"It was tough night for us. Our defense was horrible, and when you play like that you don't deserve to win," easily concluded Massey.

Coach Arsic wasn't trying to hide anything as well.

"Our defense wasn't good enough and without good defense we can't beat anybody, not only Greece," he said.

"Simply Greek team is much-much better than us."

Greece took over the game right from tip off.

Their bigs made the paint crowded and all of shots by F.Y.R of Macedonia in the starting minutes came from outside.

All went out other than a single three pointer by Todor Gecevski, while Greece used nine points by Spanoulis to take an 18-3 lead after five minutes.

Stefanov broke the silence with a three pointer of his own, but the paint remained a Greek territory, and the gap jumped to 23-6.

"I'm very happy how we started this game and competition," shared Kazlauskas.

"It was the best game we played so far since we started the preparation.

"We never relaxed and continued until the last seconds to play with intensity, and that's the best part of our game today."

Bourousis from distance and Sofoklis Schrotsanitis in the paint pushed the gap to 18, before Antic sealed the quarter with a crazy three pointer to make it 28-13.

F.Y.R. Of Macedonia still couldn't find the way to the rim, and reached no less than 14 three point attempts in 14 minutes.

Predrag Samardziski came in and made a difference inside the point, by scoring six in a row near the rim, but Greece were in a different sphere as Bourousis and Spanoulis reached double-figures and made it a 44-19 game.

Schortsanitis finished a big alley-hoop play to silence the fans that came from Skopje, but Massey showed his own style with a power slam in the fast break, to write the best play of the game yet, but not enough to enter the break well, as Greece were up 52-28.

The one-sided game remained in the second half, when the students of Jonas Kazlauskas pushed the margin above the 30 point line.

"We were well prepared to this game and the scouting helped us win it in such difference," summarized Antonios Fotsis of Greece.

Greece's biggest win ever in EuroBaskets was in 1951 when they beat Portugal by 46 points.

In some moments it seemed like a record could be registered today, but Massey and Gecevski collected points, and Greece took the foot off the gas,

Jeremiah Massey (FYR of Macedonia):

"We played terrible basketball. That was horrible. Without defense one cannot play against Greece. They taught us how to play modern basketball. We can play better."

Nick Calathes (Greece):

"That was a really good game, we were a team - solid in defense and effective in attack. Now, we are waiting for Croatia - that will be a really exciting match. They play really good, but today we have proven that we can achieve a lot in Eurobasket."

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.

Sounding-Off: "Every game in this EuroBasket is going to be a battle, and our opening game against FYROM isn't going to be any different." Greece's Nick Calathes.