Game Summary

Turning point: Nikos Zisis and Ioannis Bouroursis led an 8-0 run mid-way through the second quarter to make it a 15 point game, after a close start.

Hero: Bourousis is now the big leader of the Greek team. He finished the game with 19 points but 17 of them came in the first half when Greece made the big run and actually secured the win.

Stats: Greece scored no less than 32 points in the second quarter in which they missed only three shots from the field in 14 attempts.

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The fate of Group A played in Poznan is set after Greece beat Croatia 76-68 in a one-sided game despite the final result.

Following today's results Israel is eliminated and will finish last, while Greece secured the first spot and will carry two wins to the Qualifying Round, putting them in a great position. The two teams will meet tomorrow in a game that can't influence their fate.

Croatia and the F.Y.R of Macedonia have secured their spot in the next phase as well and will go head-to-head tomorrow to decide who will take the second spot in Group A and have a win in their pocket in the Qualifying Round.

Despite the eight point difference with the buzzer the game was totally dominated by Greece.

They controlled every aspect of the game, and held a 21 point lead already in the first quarter.

Croatia made a big run in the closing minutes and cut the gap to only six, but the Greeks stayed in control.

"Greece played an amazing second quarter and took a big lead, and it was very difficult for us to get back from there," shared Nikola Vujcic.

"We tried to shock them like they did to us in 2007, but the time expired too soon," he said with a smile.

Ioannis Bourousis in a first half that should set an example for anybody who wishes to be a modern center, was the hero of the day for Greece.

He scored 12 points already in the first quarter, but continued his domination in the second quarter, changing the game.

Greece scored no less than 32 points in that period, nearly didn't miss a shot from close and distance and opened the big gap that made it clear who's going to win this battle.

Bourousis finished with 19 points and eight rebounds followed by Vasilis Spanoulis with 11 points and two youngsters with ten each - Kostas Koufos and Efstratios Perperoglou.

Croatia saw 15 points by Roko-Leni Ukic and 13 by Vujcic.

"I'm really surprised how well we play, because this is a young team and not many players have experience in these levels," confessed Nikos Zisis after the game.

"We still need to work on some things to make better results in the next phases but I'm happy with a lot of the things we showed so far," he added.

Ukic and Mario Kasun shared the first 10 points for Croatia but Bourousis was the man for the Greeks who stayed close and held an 11-10 lead after 6:30.

Additional points in the paint by Bourousis and Koufos opened a small gap and an off balance three ball by the big Bourousis set the first quarter score on 20-15.

Bourousis came off the bench for a big offensive rebound that showed how much Greece want the game more, and the gap jumped to 38-23.

Ukic tried to change things by himself but only saw Perperoglou and Zisis make it a 16 point game, 45-29 with 2:24 to play in the first.

Another bucket of Ukic who reached 11 in the first half, were the last of his team in the half, while Koufos led a 7-0 run to finish the half up 52-31.

Croatia came back from the locker-room set to show a new face.

Ukic and Marko Banic carried their team on an 11-2 run to make it just a 12 point game, 54-42 at the 24 minute mark, but that was as close as they came.

Perperoglou and Antonios Fotsis combined points from close and far range, to make it an 18 point game right before the third buzzer, and a lack of communication between Nikola Vujcic and Zoran Planinic resulted a superfluous turnover Greece used to make it a 20 point game once more.

"I'm very happy with the way we played today in the first half.  It was a direct continuation to the good game we had yesterday," said Jonas Kazlauskas of the Greek bench.

"In the second half we lost some energy, but what made me happy is that we managed to stay focus and didn't lose control of the game."

More than anything else Croatia needed to have a better finish to regain some confidence for the future and win back some pride.

That meant Vujcic stepping up.

The veteran center scored nine points in the last quarter including the three-pointer that cut the margin to only six, 71-65, a bit under two minutes to play, but the Croat hopes didn't survive long.

Spanoulis hit two from the line and after Banic missed a shot inside the arc Spanoulis added a three pointer that sealed the deal.

Nikola Vujcic, Croatia:

"During the whole first half Greece dominated - they played perfect on defense and had plenty of rebounds. For a while we lost our confidence. Fortunately in the second half we changed our game and even had a chance to equalize."

Jasmin Repesa, Croatia Coach:

"The Greek team deserved to win. They played much better, especially in the first half. We were beaten by a great team. It's always hard to change something during the game, when a team starts so bad, as we did today."

Nikolaos Zisis, Greece:

"I'm proud that we won this game against as good a team as Croatia, but to be honest - after a perfect first half, we played miserable in the second part. Fortunately Croatia didn't use this opportunity."

Jonas Kazlauskas, Greece Coach:

"It was a difficult game. We had really good first half, when we continued doing what we did yesterday. But then we started to hesitate and we lost our speed - perhaps we were tired. Mentally we controlled the game, but physically were losing our advantage."

Two teams with big ambitions will meet in Group A in Poznan when Croatia and Greece will look for their second win in EuroBasket 2009.

After beating Israel - a team the last three EuroBasket champions had to beat on the way to the medal - things are set for Croatia to make a run at finishing in the top spot in the group.

Their only wins over Greece in EuroBasket history were in 1993 and 1995 and these tournaments were also the only ones in which Croatia won a medal. Greece on the other hand won the last two battles between the two, and will aim for a third in a row.

Both teams carry different energies from the first day.

Greece played the first game and enjoyed a walk in the park after taking a big lead already in the first minutes, and cruised to a 32 point win.

Croatia played the second game, and had to stretch every muscle and spend every drop of sweat to beat Israel.

Against the aggressive pressure defense of Greece it will take everything Croatia has to make things happen.

Luckily for Coach Jasmin Repesa he has one of the deepest benches in the competition, and the fact players as Nikola Prkacin, Kresimir Loncar and Mario Stojic hardly played yesterday could be a big help.

This will also be a battle between two of the most impressive front lines in this tournament.

On the Greek side we can follow Ioannis Bouroursis, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Antonios Fotsis, Kostas Koufos and Andreas Glyniadakis combined a five man gang that pretty much all of them will be welcome on the roster of any other EuroBasket team.

The IDs in Croatia's front line display the names: Nikola Vujcic, Mario Kasun, Mario Banic, Sandro Nicevic, Prkacin and Loncar. So much diversity, talent, size and smartness in their game is what make Croatia a team that can go very far here.

The winner of today's game will most likely win the group, and carry two wins to the next round. A win today could mean a much more comfortable life from today till the final round. That's why today's game between Croatia and Greece can mean everything for both sides.

Head-to-head: The total record in EuroBasket history between Greece and Croatia stand on 2-2 after Croatia won in 1993 and 1995 but Greece edged them twice in the last years. 2007 was the last time they played, meeting in the Qualifying Round when Dimitris Diamantidis scored 23 and Lazaros Papadopoulos added 22 to write an 81-78 win, behind a buzzer beater three-point winning shot by Vasilis Spanoulis.

Last time out: Greece enjoyed an easy ride with an 86-54 triumph over F.Y.R of Macedonia after taking a big lead already in the early minutes and displaying tough and aggressive defense as we used to see from them. Croatia had to spend a lot of energy before collecting their debut win over Israel 86-79.

Stats: The main reason Croatia won the game against Israel was they dominance on the offensive board when they collected no less than 17 missed shots. Greece's front line has much more size, meat and presence than the Israeli one, and would probably not allow so many second chances for the Croats. The boys of Repesa will have to do something better in order to escape with another win.

Key Match-Up: Roko-Leni Ukic and Spanoulis are two very athletic guards with good size. They are the biggest name on the back court of their team, and sometimes take too much on their shoulders, but at the end of the day know to share the ball and glory with the others. Spanoulis carries more experience on his back, while Ukic is starting to establish himself as the main man. Whoever steps up today and bring to the court his pack of tools, would make things much easier for his team. 

X-Factor:  20-year-old Nick Calathes of Greece will be a key force in this game. Croatia's back court is deep, experienced and talented with Davor Kus, Ukic, Marko Popovic and Zoran Planinic. To stop them it will take a lot of defensive effort by the Greek guards. If Coach Kazlauskas know he can relay on Zisis and Spanoulis as his veteran contributors on the Greek back court, he'll need at least one more guard to step up and even out the Croatian's depth. Calathes, who showed in his EuroBasket debut yesterday he fears nothing, could be that X-Factor to help Greece eliminate Croatia's advantage in the back court. 

Sounding-Off: "We practiced for 45 days for the first game and nothing worked for us. If we want to beat Greece we'll have to do so many things different than the first day," Zoran Planinic knows what it takes to beat Greece.