Evanthia Maltsi scored six points in the final 90 seconds to lead Greece to a 93-91 win over Japan at the women’s Olympic basketball tournament yesterday, giving the host nation its best ever showing in a major tournament.
The win means the Greeks end the preliminary round in fourth place in Group A with two wins and three losses, just enough to advance to the quarter-finals over Japan, which ended the round at 1-4.
Japan’s Ryoko Yano had a chance to win the game and put her team into the quarterfinals, but her shot clanged off the basket and time expired, sparking a celebration among the more than 7,000 spectators at the Helliniko Indoor Arena.
As hundreds of fans stayed on to chant, the Greek team broke out into a traditional fold dance around centre court, prompting even more celebrations in the home crowd.
“We didn’t panic when Japan was leading by six with three minutes to go. We could’ve done better but we achieved our main target, to qualify in the quarter-finals,” Maltsi said.
The Greeks qualified for the tournament as the home nation, with their previous best a ninth place finish at the 2003 European Championship.
Earlier in the session Australia beat Brazil 84-66 to clinch top spot in Group A with a perfect 5-0 record. Brazil (3-2) needed to win by at least 15 points to finish ahead of the Aussies in the standings, but instead placed third as Russia (4-1) handed Nigeria a 93-58 drubbing.
The Czech Republic (3-2) downed New Zealand (2-3) 74-57 to place third in Group B behind top ranked reigning gold medalists the United States (4-0) and Spain (3-1).
The Spaniards play South Korea (0-4) and the US line up against China (1-3) later in the day in games that cannot affect the final standings.
In Wednesday’s quarterfinals, Australia play New Zealand, Russia play the Czech Republic, Brazil take on Spain, and the United States will face the Greeks.
Improvements Bring US Confidence Despite Second Defeat
Despite a second Olympic loss, signs of improvement have given the United States team of National Basketball Association stars confidence as they prepare for a likely three-day medal gauntlet of top rivals.
Lithuania’s 94-90 triumph was the second US loss in a week after US men had lost just twice in 111 prior Olympic games since the sport’s 1936 Games debut.
But US players were better able to penetrate zone defenses, shot marginally better from outside and at times showed the level which made the previous NBA collections gold medal champions in the past three Olympics.
“The one thing we can take from this loss is that we know we’re a lot better now than when we came here,” US forward Carlos Boozer said. “We grew up a lot. We’re improving. We’re sharing the ball and we played a lot better defensively. We’re getting better really fast. We should have won this game. It hurts. We were better than that team.”
The US team, 2-2, concludes preliminary round-robin group play today against winless Angola, the only team eliminated from medal contention. “It’s tough,” forward Carmelo Anthony said. “Our backs are against the wall. We can’t come out expecting anybody to give us anything. We’ve got to earn it.”
Only a US loss and Australian upset of Lithuania could put the US at risk of failing to qualify for Thursday’s quarterfinals. That’s why the Americans cannot afford to overlook even a team clearly the weakest at the Games.
“We’re the USA. We’re who everyone wants to beat,” US guard Dwayne Wade said. “We try to weather the storm as much as possible.”
With a third seeding likely, the American path to Olympic gold probably means going through powerful rivals Argentina and Spain in a three-day medal tournament that could see Lithuania lurking again in the gold medal match.
“I don’t think there is a team out there that wants to see the US in the medal round. I totally believe that,” Boozer said. “We’re getting better really fast.” Lamar Odom, whose foul set up a pivotal four-point play for Lithuania, said the team has bonded after a month working together against an international style far more dependant upon teamwork than the NBA and its one-on-one game.
