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Greece Win 2005 EuroBasket Gold
Greece concluded their improbable EuroBasket run with a convincing 78-62 victory over Germany to win the gold medal for the first time since 1987. In front of a raucous pro-Greece, sold out crowd of 19,000 at the Belgrade Arena, the Greeks used their trademark of teamwork and solid defence to roll to victory over a Dirk Nowitzki led German team. As the final buzzer sounded, players ran on to the court in celebration and the thousands of Greek fans in attendance rose to their feet singing songs from their homeland. Head coach Panagiotis Yannakis was thrown in the air by his players. Theodoros Papaloukas scored 22 points to lead Greece, including a pair of three-pointers that started the second half and ignited Greece's break-out quarter when they extended their lead to double digits and took control of the game. “It's a big honour to see your country's flag raised and to sing the national anthem,” said Theodorus Popouloukas. “I know everyone back home is on the streets celebrating.” Nowitzki was once again brilliant, this time in defeat. He scored 23, including a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. He got little help from his team-mates, with only Patrick Femerling finishing in double figures scoring with 11. In one of the many emotional moments at the Belgrade Arena, Nowitzki was pulled with 3:22 to go in the fourth and the outcome of the game no longer in doubt. Nowitzki received a thunderous standing ovation, many of were Greek fans. Nowitzki hugged everyone - team-mates, coaches and physios and waved to the crowd. The fact that they gave him an ovation even though he was the opposition was great,” said German head coach Dirk Bauermann. “It's well deserved.” Said Nowitzki: “Greece played phenomenal and deserved to win.” For Yannakis, it is deja vu all over again. Eighteen years ago, Yannakis was the point guard for Greece's team that unexpectedly won the 1987 EuroBasket title, similar to the 2005 team which was not considered a tournament favourite. “I'm dreaming,” said the victorious coach. “I'm not on earth. This is unbelievable.”
France Take Bronze
France and Spain both wanted to put last night's semi-final heartbreaks behind them to at least salvage a bronze medal. But it seemed only France was able to get over the defeat of the previous night as they thrashed Spain 98-68 to earn their first medal in the European Championships since 1959. "We said last night in the locker room that obviously we were disappointed to have lost to Greece in that way but that it was best if we played without that weighing on our minds today," said Boris Diaw. "We actually managed to use the loss in the semi-final as a source of motivation for the third place game. Winning the bronze medal shows that all the hard work and preparations we did over the course of the summer weren't in vain." And team-mate Mickael Gelabale believes France is on the right track for the next big tournament - next year's FIBA World Championships in Japan. "As a team we were able to learn from the losses we had early in the competition and become a better team. The way we have been playing since the game against Serbia & Montenegro is how we should keep playing for as long as we can." San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker saved his best performance for this game, pouring in 25 points and dishing out 5 assists and was aware of what the win meant not only for the team, but for the nation as well. "This is a great moment for France. Two years ago in Sweden, when we lost to Lithuania in the semi-final, we didn't really know how to approach and play a bronze medal game against Italy," he said. "But this time around we had the experience and we showed that we could play with the best in Europe." For French head coach Claude Bergeaud, this game was a success for more reasons than just the bronze medal. "I am proud to see how our players stuck together through the highs and the lows. They could have given up in the group games, but they didn't. Instead they realised their best chances of accomplishing anything in this tournament would be if they played even more as a team and helped each other out." Parker sees a great difference between the team as it was for the game against Spain and the side that lined up against Greece ten days ago. "I think we were able to grow a lot over the course of the tournament. There's no question that we are much improved since our first game. I'm really proud to be a part of this team and to see how they supported me when I was having trouble early on." As for Spain, there was little head coach Mario Pasquera could point to in order to explain the final score other than his players' fatigue.
MVP Nowitzki Tops EuroBasket 2005 All-Tournament Team
Germany's Dirk Nowitzki claimed the Most Valuable Player award at the 2005 EuroBasket and topped the competition's All-Tournament team. Nowitzki won the honour - voted by international media representatives at Belgrade Arena - for leading Germany to Sunday's final against Greece. The Dallas Mavericks star went into the final as the tournament's leading scorer (26.7 ppg) and second-leading rebounder (10.8 rpg) and shot blocker (1.8 blpg). Nowitzki carried his team, twice hitting shots in the final seconds to will Germany into the final and guaranteeing them their second EuroBasket medal following their gold medal at the 1993 championships in Munich. Nowitzki was also voted by the media as the top power forward of the tournament. He was joined on the All-Tournament team by Greek guards Theodoros Papaloukas (9.6 ppg and 2.4 rpg) and Dimitrios Diamantidis, who led the tournament in assists (5.0 per game) had 5.1 rebounds and 5.4 points a game. Diamantidis also hit a three-pointer in the waning seconds against France to move the Greeks into the final. France's Boris Diaw was picked as the top small forward for his all around game (13.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.0 spg, 1.3 blpg) in leading the French to the bronze medal. Spain's Juan Carlos Navarro was selected as the top shooting guard, averaging 25.2 points and 1.2 steals as well as hitting 69-79 (87.3 per cent) free throws for the fourth-placed Iberians.