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Βro...I am almost sure most of so-called haters that say "you don't like the greek team" are teenagers, 20 years old tops.Their blood is being boiled,don't pay attention.Healthy grown up minds totally respect you.Much love from Greece for the lithuanian national team.Trust me, the vast majority of greek audience fully respect lithuanian basketball process.
I still remember your game against USA in Athens for the 2004 olympics when you beat Team USA in the group stage. The whole stadium was cheering Lietuva Lietuva even if you had destroyed the Greek team 2 days earlier.
Even though you guys are young, you know your stuff and you are both awesome! From a Greek basketball 45 year old fan that follows you both on twitter as well.
Don't listen to the Greek haters. The are not even haters, just having fun mocking you. We are not raised to hate the opponent team, we just make fun of these situations.
You can hate Rudy Fernández; he has been complaining 500 times per game during his 20 year long career, but we have to recognize that he is the fiercest competitor and still has been at 38 as he showed again in this year's ACB final. Despite his constant complaints he has never lost his concentration ever in a single game, something that other players that we all admire can't say. His resume..., is just unbelievable, just history of european basketball.
Very solid analisis, 1st time watching and new subscriber. In Puerto Rico we hold great respect for Lithuania. If your country is "consider small" imagine us, we fit 7 times inside of yours. Local crowd is so hype up due to the respect we have for your team. Best wishes for your team and we love the passion of your fans coming to our island to be part of the tournament. 🇵🇷🏀
Greek basketball fan here,my friend.. We're all excited about Puerto Rico!! We'll never forget your win against USA in Athens...And also...I want to mention..I grew up with Carlos Arroyo...It was so enjoyable to watch his tricks...I wanted so bad to play for my team,Olympiakos,at those times...Good luck to your beautiful country and team!
@@johnhalk104 Wow thats amazing! Carlos is such a humble guy, as a fan i have a couple of words with him since i go often to games. We remember how greeks got behind us during that game. Game is here at youtube to be rewatch. "Piculin" Ortiz played in Greece many years also and talks constantly about his years there. Diamantidis my favorite player from Hellas. Exited to watch this olympics my friend. Thanks for your kind words. I will visit Greece im 2026 as tourist, exited!
@@cocinamovil5435 Hope you have a nice time here my friend!!! Gian Glavel and Conditt played also in our country...I have to be honest...I am a lover of Lithuanian basketball culture!!! But,your passion,and thirst about making it was irresistible and also beautiful!
@@johnhalk104 I am big fan of Lithuania myself, also Italy, Greece, Spain and Serbia. It's always fun to see different basketball styles collide, we use a lot of "Run and Gun", but aa you can tell our players will risk injury on their effort to win the game, wen a team plays with this kind of effort makes a difference. There is no small competitor in the olympics. It's gonna be fun!
the OQT in Greece was the first major basketball event I attended and man it was amazing. On top of the great display of basketball from our team the atmosphere was amazing, families cheering, the players and coaches being the most passionate Ive seen in 15 years , basketball superstars having the time of their life. Hopefully the rumors are true and we get to organize the 2029 eurobasket in Greece . Also lets do our best now in France 💪
Greek fans are loving you guys.Even the missing guy that got lost after Pao won the euroleague. We are very passionate with our teams and whenever for example you feel that a Greek team or our national team wont make it we take it somehow personal. We feel very proud for our basketball teams and we are not used to criticism even if its just a different opinion. We like your show (you can see that from the number of fans you have here in Greece) and i am sure that as your channel gets bigger you will experience love from Greek guys that goes way too crazy. They will start inviting you to eat with them, buy you a beer even to come stay at their houses. This is us. We express our feelings too much, love or hate, disappointment or excitement
Feel gutted about Lithuania not qualifying. An Olympics or World Championship without Lithuania isn't the same. Thank you Donatas for your comments about Greece. This qualification means a lot to Greece after many failures over the years. Every player, coach, cleaner, physio on the team gave 110%. This is why most players were in tears at the end. In an interview with the Greek press, Spanoulis said the 12 players going to the Olympics isn't yet confirmed. Also Papagiannis said the team wants to go deep in the tournament.
Nik was shouting : „Let him shoot! Yeah! Let him shoot! „ after the croatian bench was shouting „let him shoot“ while he was alone at the three point line - weak ass trash talk but was funny though 😅
Jasu Greece, much love from Serbia. We respect Lithuanian bb, no doubt. But I dont want to front. Yes Giannis is great, Calathes great..... BUT... dont forget about JOKIC and SERBIA. Team USA must fall this time, it will be done at least in the finals. They cant do it FIBA style, like we can. LBJ can go home, we have the MVP. Idemoo Srbija!!!
Nobody is forgetting about Serbia. Micic, Bogy, The Joker, Guduric, and Marinkovic is a dangerous starting 5. I would love to see Greece or you guys win gold, however make no mistake, this is team USA or Frances gold to lose.
Ignore the idiots. The poisonous, immature hate mentality is widespread among Greeks for sure. On the other hand, there are many who purely love basketball and, therefore, love your podcast. Very good job. Best english-speaking europodcast hands down.
Greece are at a good place this year and it's a combination of three factors in my opinion: A) V-Span mentality and clout among his players, who used to be his teammates a few years ago. The team looks energized, motivated, confident and disciplined. B) Finding a new balance and modus vivendi between the team and the team's superstar Giannis, as well as with the Milwaukee Bucks organization. First of, in previous years, everyone including Giannis himself, felt that Giannis should be left to do his thing and for the most part he did, and he did fantastic. But it's too much for any team to expect all from one player in a tight series of games played in short succession and in the end it's counterproductive especially in the knockout phase when facing teams who also have superstars of their own. Also, the Greek basketball federation went to great lengths to accommodate the Bucks in previous years. They even went as far as incorporating Bucks staffers in the Greek team (coaches and medical-physio guys). Even though these guys honestly tried to help the Greek team beyond Giannis and not to overstep their role, it was clear that their number one directive was to protect Giannis. This was creating an asphyxiating, overprotective environment for Giannis who now felt immense pressure from two sides, "do-it-all and lead us to victory" vs. "OMG please don't-get-hurt". Now, things are more balanced and this is liberating for Giannis who can finally enjoy the game playing as first among equals. Also, he gets more rest and less exposure to risky plays this way. C) The coming of age of the new generation of Greek players. Mitoglou, Papagiannis, Kalaitzakis, Larentzakis evolved their game in the last two years, became key players in their respective teams and found confidence and experience. They are now at their prime. Walkup was a great addition. Charalampopoulos who was considered lost talent mostly because of his own arrogance and overconfidence, matured, changed his ways and came back as a useful piece. Toliopoulos was the revelation of the season in the Greek league being a true leader and an super-clutch player for Aris. Finally, on the veteran side, Papanicolaou and Calathes, the most loyal soldiers of the team all these years are now the seasoned generals. For Calathes, as mentioned in the video, it's crazy that he is still evolving his game despite reaching the end of his career. I value the work Itoudis put in the team but the time was not right yet for the new generation of players. That was not his fault. On the contrary he helped many of these players to evolve. Itoudis' plan to manage and integrate Giannis' superstardom was a logical, well-thought plan but it didn't click in the end. Now I see good spirits, healthy balance and convincing basketball from Spanoulis' Greece. Still many things to fix, particularly in the offence as mentioned in the podcast. The Olympics won't be easy against the star-studded super-teams competing there, but Greece will be fun to watch and the chances to advance far in the competition are there, not just for Greece, for most teams. It's a 12 team competition so it all comes down to that one good knockout game in the quarterfinals. I give a 20% chance to Greece to win an Olympic medal. Let's goooo!!
Team USA, France, Canada, Serbia, Greece and Germany are all loaded with NBA and Euroleague talent. This is going to be a fun Olympics. My condolences to our Lithuanian brothers. Puerto Rico plays with a ton of heart. PS Greeks have zero hate for you Urbonus, just thought the idea that the 1 dimensional Slovenian team stood a chance against us was insane.
Puerto Rico have not been in the Olympics since 2004 of course we were happy and over joy because also we have never beaten Lithuania in our history and we also just beat 2 European teams in a row.
Lietuva is one of Europe's OG basketball schools, Lietuva's presence in every major tournament is imo always expected and needed, an Olympiad without Lietuva will feel like someone important missing. Greetings from Greece.
Congratulations for your clear and unbiased discussion followed by many Greeks.Correct predictions are almost impossible in team sports like basket .I feel sorry that Lietuva will not participate and also about the unbelievable arrogance of the USA who did not play any qualifiers both before and in Paris where they are the only team in the fourth group while many good teams will fight each other and one halve will drop out.This is not ancient greek olympic spirit The NBA is a lot of hyperbole nowadays.
As everyone has already mentioned, do not care for these idiots who are probably high school students or something. We have to live with them, that's even worse. You are the best channel.
Ive been watching and dying with Canada Basketball since I was 10 years old and the last time I saw Canada in Olympics I was 12.. I totally understand the feeling of being eliminated from Olympics by Puerto Rico as it happened to us in back in 2003 for the 2004 games 😢 Was cheering hard for Lithuania but hopefully they can come back for the next one❤
Papagiannis makes some shots some nights but you can never rely on him,he is 2,17 and sometimes he is unable to get a rebound from a 5year old!!!if we had another reliable player this size he would just be on the bench.Great defense, even greater nick calathes,giannis is not alone anymore and spanoulis is inspirational.The group in the Olympics i think is the only one that every team has the same chances to finish from first to fourth!
As a longtime fan of both Team Canada and the Toronto Raptors, I totally understand how you guys are feeling about Team Lithuania right now 😅 But I hope you can fight through the pain and continue the great content!
Giannis draws all the attention and makes everyone around him better. Croatia is a solid team but plays with 6 players rotation, and they run out of gas.
Georginho is going to play in Brazil again this year. I think financially is a better offer, but as a fan I also wished to see his journey continue in Europe.
Our team has a coach that all the players respect him , gave them clear roles and confidence ! Spanoulis did a great job , he made them understand how much important is to play in the national team . Lithuania is one of my favourite national teams . If im not wrong at 2003 , even if i was 10 yeras old, i remember how good Saras, Siskauskas amd one my favourite players of all time Macijauskas . Now i dont see any talent at those positions .
Players like Giannis, Luka and Jokic don't have to "play well". Their presence on the court alone, distracts the defence. We were discussing how attached to Giannis Zubac was at times, for example the nice pass from Calathes to Walkup for the lay-up was only possible because Zubac was concerned keeping the ball out of Giannis hands, he didn't even close out even though he was following the action (if you see the reply, you'll see that he knows Walkup is coming in for the lay-up but he stays "home").
I think that right now Calathes is the best European pure playmaker and the best guard in Euroleague. His pairing with James at this point in their career will be deadly. As for the olympic basketball tournament format, it is ridiculous. Why not add another 4 teams and make it a 16 team tournament with 4 groups, or make 2 groups of 6 teams and let the top 4 of each group qualify? Also, are we sure Buzelis will actually play for Lithuania? I mean, I know he has been registered in the past, but is that really binding or will we see him wear a team USA jersey at some point like Joel?
My ranking for all the basketball countries/territory in Paris Olympics 2024. 1.USA 2.Canada 3.France 4.Serbia 5.Germany 6.Greece 7.Australia 8.Spain 9.Brazil 10.Puerto Rico 11.South Sudan 12.Japan
Serbia will take the gold, elderly people from the USA have no chance. The only concern for me is France with Gobert and Wembanyama, it is going to be hard against them.
@@gabepizza So what? Without Jokic and a few other players like Micic and Pokusevski, we have won the silver medal last year in the World Cup. Now Jokic is there, he will eat.
@@freopt Yugoslavia was only slowing down Serbian basketball, since the ethnicity quote was to be fulfilled when it comes to the roster. As you could see, except Slovenia in the previous Eurobasket (when Serbia was second) and Croatia long time ago, no one from the former Yugoslavia is even close to Serbia when it comes to international competitions. Just a reminder from the World Cup in China, we have beaten the USA, and the result of the first quarter was 32:7. And that was the USA team with Jaylen Brown, Kris Middleton and the others, led by Gregg Popovich.
Giannis beating racism with carrying the flag,WELL DONE...i see it like a humiliation for the politics of this country(?)....haha...p.s. loved your text about the story
So Spain will be in Paris, not Latvia, not Lithuania, not Slovenia, not Italy... only Greece and Spain from Europe won the ticket to participate in the olympic tournament. Just a reminder for all the people that every summer show disrespect for the spanish national team. From 1979 until now Spain has competed in every single championship except in Atlanta in 1996. 11/12 Olympic Games, 11/11 World Championships and all the Eurobaskets at that period of time.
Ok, Spain sucked in this tournament until the final game. It is what it is it was what it was, but at least in the final we could see some defense. Maybe with Abrines and Juancho we can put up a fight in the Olympics. If I have to support anyone besides Spain, I choose Greece as well, they have the heart, crazy Larentzakis, and they have Spanoulis, you just need a little bit of better shooting and maybe get Giannis to the post.😅
Let everyone doubt us as always and we would show up as always. With Juancho and Abrines we have a much better and fluid ofense and on defense we know we can play well to with Alberto, Garuba and Willy. Group phase would be a hard challenge to start the Olympics but would show us how well we can do (or not) from the start. I see us going deep, but wouldn't surprise me that Greece, Australia and Canada overpower us because they are really good teams too. If not Spain, I'm with Canada, extremelly fun to watch and have the plus of Jordi Fernández as coach.
I really thought Spain and Greece benefited from playing at home. Neither team I thought played great but the home crowds got them going. If Smith of Croatia hits some of his shots could have been closer. On a neutral floor I feel the Bahamas win that game. PR had home court, but they looked by far the best team anyways. Nice to see Brazil back in the Olympics. They played very well over the 4 games. Should be a good tourney in Paris.
You really think that Greece won because of home court advantage, Croatia was shooting free throws and Greeks couldn't shoot a free throw unless they bleed.
@@larrymcdonald8084 You misunderstand me. I didn't think the refs helped Greece, I thought the team fed off the energy from the home crowd. Greek crowd was really good and pushed the team on.
On a neutral floor Spain is still a much better TEAM that Bahamas and we would have win anyways. Even if we are lacking some top top talent lately, the culture of our team is really strong and we don't depend on it to keep winning teams with arguably more talent than ours. Don't get me wrong, Bahamas had a chance and fought until the end, but we showed everyone doubting that we are still a force in FIBA, even when we are at a clear transition moment after years of dominance internationally. And I have hopes for us at Paris this summer, it won't be easy but I trust that we can do a really good tournament.
Brazdeikis was injured. He had to operate his knee or foot. Buzelis obviously skipped because of NBA. No hard feelings for him. Tubelis was in roster, but he was role player for defense and extra attack. Like alley oop he performed vs Italy.
Stereotyping Greeks as hateful people? Come on Donatas. You simply don't show the respect to the Greek national team that it deserves. They deserve the harsh critique sometimes but I think you overdo it a lot of the time compared to other teams. It doesn't come across well. I'm not defending what people messaged you, but what do you expect? Besides, they were probably some teenagers. Like that doesn't happen with Lithuania or other nations.
I feel sad for Lithuania staying out of the Olympics. The Qualifiers are quite unfair: why should Lithuania travel to Puerto Rico, instead of playing in Latvia, which is closer? Why Brazil played in Latvia, instead of playing in Puerto Rico, which is closer to Brazil? Bahamas played in Spain instead of in Puerto Rico. That seems unreasonable/unfair...
No dude they are not haters. 2 things happening here. Either u have no idea about basketball or u do it on purpose to get more attention, comments etc. cause u know even the "bad" "hate" commets are good for their channel, for algorithms etc .. Even a 5year old kid wouldnt choose slovenia over greece with doncic not ready coming of from big playoff run, and btw dragic was playing big role to the slovenians success the recent years, without him they might not have anymore success in the next years, its a different team already without him
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We all know that you guys love Greece and Greeks and we love you back...! à tout à l'heure !!!!
Αφού μόνο Έλληνες τους βλέπουν, σιγά μη μας βρίσουν κι από πάνω.
Βro...I am almost sure most of so-called haters that say "you don't like the greek team" are teenagers, 20 years old tops.Their blood is being boiled,don't pay attention.Healthy grown up minds totally respect you.Much love from Greece for the lithuanian national team.Trust me, the vast majority of greek audience fully respect lithuanian basketball process.
We know you like greek basketball. Greetings from Athens.
I don't think they do. I have seen a lot of negatives spoken about Greek basketball on this channel. Let's be honest.
The Croatian bench were shouting “let him shoot” to their defense and Calathes was then telling them “let me shoot!” After he scored
thanks a lot for clearing that up!
@@AugustasSuliauskas pleasure, of course
Urbonas, do not listen to the trolls. We do love you guys, greetings from greece.
Greeks are your biggest fans and number 1 followers! Respect our Lithuanian brothers 😉
I still remember your game against USA in Athens for the 2004 olympics when you beat Team USA in the group stage. The whole stadium was cheering Lietuva Lietuva even if you had destroyed the Greek team 2 days earlier.
Lithuanian fans that came to Puerto Rico, thank you. You were awesome. I hope you have enjoy your time here.
Even though you guys are young, you know your stuff and you are both awesome! From a Greek basketball 45 year old fan that follows you both on twitter as well.
we appreciate that a lot, thanks!
Walkup plays with heart but he is from Texas..Respect and Love🇬🇷🇺🇲
Lietuva as Greece will always be big on the game even when they don't qualify
Don't listen to the Greek haters. The are not even haters, just having fun mocking you. We are not raised to hate the opponent team, we just make fun of these situations.
💯
Yeah but this guy in the video makes it sound Greeks are raised to be hateful. That's not right adn frankly should retract such a statement.
You can hate Rudy Fernández; he has been complaining 500 times per game during his 20 year long career, but we have to recognize that he is the fiercest competitor and still has been at 38 as he showed again in this year's ACB final. Despite his constant complaints he has never lost his concentration ever in a single game, something that other players that we all admire can't say. His resume..., is just unbelievable, just history of european basketball.
Very solid analisis, 1st time watching and new subscriber. In Puerto Rico we hold great respect for Lithuania. If your country is "consider small" imagine us, we fit 7 times inside of yours. Local crowd is so hype up due to the respect we have for your team. Best wishes for your team and we love the passion of your fans coming to our island to be part of the tournament. 🇵🇷🏀
Greek basketball fan here,my friend..
We're all excited about Puerto Rico!!
We'll never forget your win against USA in Athens...And also...I want to mention..I grew up with Carlos Arroyo...It was so enjoyable to watch his tricks...I wanted so bad to play for my team,Olympiakos,at those times...Good luck to your beautiful country and team!
@@johnhalk104 Wow thats amazing! Carlos is such a humble guy, as a fan i have a couple of words with him since i go often to games. We remember how greeks got behind us during that game. Game is here at youtube to be rewatch. "Piculin" Ortiz played in Greece many years also and talks constantly about his years there. Diamantidis my favorite player from Hellas. Exited to watch this olympics my friend. Thanks for your kind words. I will visit Greece im 2026 as tourist, exited!
@@cocinamovil5435 Hope you have a nice time here my friend!!!
Gian Glavel and Conditt played also in our country...I have to be honest...I am a lover of Lithuanian basketball culture!!!
But,your passion,and thirst about making it was irresistible and also beautiful!
@@cocinamovil5435 Ortiz still remains a well respected guy here!!!
And they're all talking with the most kind words about him and his personality!
@@johnhalk104 I am big fan of Lithuania myself, also Italy, Greece, Spain and Serbia. It's always fun to see different basketball styles collide, we use a lot of "Run and Gun", but aa you can tell our players will risk injury on their effort to win the game, wen a team plays with this kind of effort makes a difference. There is no small competitor in the olympics. It's gonna be fun!
Greetings from Greece love your podcast ☘️☘️😎
We really love you guys. You love basketball and analyze it so successfully. Keep doing what you do. Love from Greece
Hi guys, as you said, a big basketball tournament is poor without Lithuania. I'm really sorry.
That's why world cup should be the biggest event for international basketball... Olympic basketball limit the excitement of competitive basketball
the OQT in Greece was the first major basketball event I attended and man it was amazing. On top of the great display of basketball from our team the atmosphere was amazing, families cheering, the players and coaches being the most passionate Ive seen in 15 years , basketball superstars having the time of their life. Hopefully the rumors are true and we get to organize the 2029 eurobasket in Greece . Also lets do our best now in France 💪
As an American I love how big basketball is all over the world especially eruo international hoops has become real competitive
Lithuanian basketball is too good and has so much culture, it will bounce back
No it will not, they are too soft.
Greek fans are loving you guys.Even the missing guy that got lost after Pao won the euroleague. We are very passionate with our teams and whenever for example you feel that a Greek team or our national team wont make it we take it somehow personal. We feel very proud for our basketball teams and we are not used to criticism even if its just a different opinion. We like your show (you can see that from the number of fans you have here in Greece) and i am sure that as your channel gets bigger you will experience love from Greek guys that goes way too crazy. They will start inviting you to eat with them, buy you a beer even to come stay at their houses. This is us. We express our feelings too much, love or hate, disappointment or excitement
Very good analysis on all topics. Bravo young men
Feel gutted about Lithuania not qualifying. An Olympics or World Championship without Lithuania isn't the same. Thank you Donatas for your comments about Greece. This qualification means a lot to Greece after many failures over the years. Every player, coach, cleaner, physio on the team gave 110%. This is why most players were in tears at the end. In an interview with the Greek press, Spanoulis said the 12 players going to the Olympics isn't yet confirmed. Also Papagiannis said the team wants to go deep in the tournament.
Greetings from Greek from Rotterdam, love your podcast and very pity for Lietuva which will be missing!!
Nik was shouting : „Let him shoot! Yeah! Let him shoot! „ after the croatian bench was shouting „let him shoot“ while he was alone at the three point line - weak ass trash talk but was funny though 😅
Feel bad for Lithuania bad you lost against a die hard basketball nation at least.
LETS GO GREECE! 🔵⚪💪💪
At least there would be some Baltic state at the 3x3 tournament.
@@miqueasvalentinhernandez3998 😅🥺
Thank you guys. Really excited about the tournament. Our guys deserve a break for once
Greetings from Puertorico!!🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷
Jasu Greece, much love from Serbia. We respect Lithuanian bb, no doubt. But I dont want to front. Yes Giannis is great, Calathes great..... BUT... dont forget about JOKIC and SERBIA. Team USA must fall this time, it will be done at least in the finals. They cant do it FIBA style, like we can. LBJ can go home, we have the MVP. Idemoo Srbija!!!
Nobody is forgetting about Serbia. Micic, Bogy, The Joker, Guduric, and Marinkovic is a dangerous starting 5. I would love to see Greece or you guys win gold, however make no mistake, this is team USA or Frances gold to lose.
Hello Serbia bros from Greece. Also watching Djokovic in Wimbledon.
We are always with you brother. Greeks cheer for Serbia at any sport but ESPECIALLY in basketball
@@yiannisschmalz6574 I think so too, the USA will lose against Hellas or France or Serbia. One of us should sent LBJ home without gold. Jasas
@@GeorgeTelop Thanks bro! Hellas Serbia Orthodoxia. They cant ufck with us.
All I know is the group of Death “ Australia , Espania , Hellas , Canada is gonna be amazing ! What a group
Ignore the idiots. The poisonous, immature hate mentality is widespread among Greeks for sure. On the other hand, there are many who purely love basketball and, therefore, love your podcast. Very good job. Best english-speaking europodcast hands down.
That poisonous mentality is everywhere not just Greece. To single out Greece is just wrong.
Greece are at a good place this year and it's a combination of three factors in my opinion:
A) V-Span mentality and clout among his players, who used to be his teammates a few years ago. The team looks energized, motivated, confident and disciplined.
B) Finding a new balance and modus vivendi between the team and the team's superstar Giannis, as well as with the Milwaukee Bucks organization. First of, in previous years, everyone including Giannis himself, felt that Giannis should be left to do his thing and for the most part he did, and he did fantastic. But it's too much for any team to expect all from one player in a tight series of games played in short succession and in the end it's counterproductive especially in the knockout phase when facing teams who also have superstars of their own. Also, the Greek basketball federation went to great lengths to accommodate the Bucks in previous years. They even went as far as incorporating Bucks staffers in the Greek team (coaches and medical-physio guys). Even though these guys honestly tried to help the Greek team beyond Giannis and not to overstep their role, it was clear that their number one directive was to protect Giannis. This was creating an asphyxiating, overprotective environment for Giannis who now felt immense pressure from two sides, "do-it-all and lead us to victory" vs. "OMG please don't-get-hurt". Now, things are more balanced and this is liberating for Giannis who can finally enjoy the game playing as first among equals. Also, he gets more rest and less exposure to risky plays this way.
C) The coming of age of the new generation of Greek players. Mitoglou, Papagiannis, Kalaitzakis, Larentzakis evolved their game in the last two years, became key players in their respective teams and found confidence and experience. They are now at their prime. Walkup was a great addition. Charalampopoulos who was considered lost talent mostly because of his own arrogance and overconfidence, matured, changed his ways and came back as a useful piece. Toliopoulos was the revelation of the season in the Greek league being a true leader and an super-clutch player for Aris. Finally, on the veteran side, Papanicolaou and Calathes, the most loyal soldiers of the team all these years are now the seasoned generals. For Calathes, as mentioned in the video, it's crazy that he is still evolving his game despite reaching the end of his career.
I value the work Itoudis put in the team but the time was not right yet for the new generation of players. That was not his fault. On the contrary he helped many of these players to evolve. Itoudis' plan to manage and integrate Giannis' superstardom was a logical, well-thought plan but it didn't click in the end. Now I see good spirits, healthy balance and convincing basketball from Spanoulis' Greece. Still many things to fix, particularly in the offence as mentioned in the podcast. The Olympics won't be easy against the star-studded super-teams competing there, but Greece will be fun to watch and the chances to advance far in the competition are there, not just for Greece, for most teams. It's a 12 team competition so it all comes down to that one good knockout game in the quarterfinals. I give a 20% chance to Greece to win an Olympic medal. Let's goooo!!
We ll miss Thanasis, i miss his passion, he reminds me of Giannaksi
we got Larentzakis who's got that in abundance
Thanks for your kind words about the Spanish NT :)
Team USA, France, Canada, Serbia, Greece and Germany are all loaded with NBA and Euroleague talent. This is going to be a fun Olympics. My condolences to our Lithuanian brothers. Puerto Rico plays with a ton of heart. PS Greeks have zero hate for you Urbonus, just thought the idea that the 1 dimensional Slovenian team stood a chance against us was insane.
So proud about Brazil!! 🇧🇷
With both Yago and Raul on point, we could do a surprisingly good run
If they are healthy...
VAI BRASIL
U have a Greek fun here so ….🎉🎉🎉
Fan* 👍🏻
Congrats! 🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷
¡VIVA PUERTO RICO! 🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷🏀🏀🏀
Puerto Rico have not been in the Olympics since 2004 of course we were happy and over joy because also we have never beaten Lithuania in our history and we also just beat 2 European teams in a row.
Lietuva is one of Europe's OG basketball schools, Lietuva's presence in every major tournament is imo always expected and needed, an Olympiad without Lietuva will feel like someone important missing. Greetings from Greece.
Man I was looking forward to cheering for Lithuania 😣
Saltyyyy
Congratulations for your clear and unbiased discussion followed by many Greeks.Correct predictions are almost impossible in team sports like basket .I feel sorry that Lietuva will not participate and also about the unbelievable arrogance of the USA who did not play any qualifiers both before and in Paris where they are the only team in the fourth group while many good teams will fight each other and one halve will drop out.This is not ancient greek olympic spirit The NBA is a lot of hyperbole nowadays.
As everyone has already mentioned, do not care for these idiots who are probably high school students or something. We have to live with them, that's even worse. You are the best channel.
It’s a great pity Lithuania didn’t qualify. Respect to you guys and all the best
Half of your spectators we are Greek. Lewl
Ive been watching and dying with Canada Basketball since I was 10 years old and the last time I saw Canada in Olympics I was 12.. I totally understand the feeling of being eliminated from Olympics by Puerto Rico as it happened to us in back in 2003 for the 2004 games 😢
Was cheering hard for Lithuania but hopefully they can come back for the next one❤
Im missing one of my favourite players EVER and incredibly talented MARCULIONIS. Basketball LEGEND
Papagiannis makes some shots some nights but you can never rely on him,he is 2,17 and sometimes he is unable to get a rebound from a 5year old!!!if we had another reliable player this size he would just be on the bench.Great defense, even greater nick calathes,giannis is not alone anymore and spanoulis is inspirational.The group in the Olympics i think is the only one that every team has the same chances to finish from first to fourth!
As a longtime fan of both Team Canada and the Toronto Raptors, I totally understand how you guys are feeling about Team Lithuania right now 😅 But I hope you can fight through the pain and continue the great content!
Giannis draws all the attention and makes everyone around him better. Croatia is a solid team but plays with 6 players rotation, and they run out of gas.
Georginho is going to play in Brazil again this year. I think financially is a better offer, but as a fan I also wished to see his journey continue in Europe.
Our team has a coach that all the players respect him , gave them clear roles and confidence ! Spanoulis did a great job , he made them understand how much important is to play in the national team .
Lithuania is one of my favourite national teams . If im not wrong at 2003 , even if i was 10 yeras old, i remember how good Saras, Siskauskas amd one my favourite players of all time Macijauskas . Now i dont see any talent at those positions .
Players like Giannis, Luka and Jokic don't have to "play well". Their presence on the court alone, distracts the defence. We were discussing how attached to Giannis Zubac was at times, for example the nice pass from Calathes to Walkup for the lay-up was only possible because Zubac was concerned keeping the ball out of Giannis hands, he didn't even close out even though he was following the action (if you see the reply, you'll see that he knows Walkup is coming in for the lay-up but he stays "home").
Maksvytis legendary coach
I am Slovenian and want to show my respect to Greece team. You are much, much better than Slovenija. Will cross fingers for yiu on Olimpics 💪💪💪
I think that right now Calathes is the best European pure playmaker and the best guard in Euroleague. His pairing with James at this point in their career will be deadly.
As for the olympic basketball tournament format, it is ridiculous. Why not add another 4 teams and make it a 16 team tournament with 4 groups, or make 2 groups of 6 teams and let the top 4 of each group qualify? Also, are we sure Buzelis will actually play for Lithuania? I mean, I know he has been registered in the past, but is that really binding or will we see him wear a team USA jersey at some point like Joel?
the greeks are coming
Hi guys, love the content i never miss a video of yours. Just one question, is it possible to do timestamps on your videos when they are long?
Random question: Do you guys immediately start speaking Lithuanian when the cameras turn off and only speak English when recording a show?
The good thing is we use very good olive oil here in Greece 😂
🇬🇷❤🇱🇹
Giannis🇬🇷
Lithuania eliminated Puerto Rico in the 2012 qualifiers. Revenge is sweet.
And with no Sloukas,Papapetrou,Thanasis and Kostas..
Thanks for the clip , to become the best 3dth team you have to have an easy group this also unfair to group A...
@3.31 welcome to the balkans baebey™
Damn! You needed Jonas in this one.
They should've mde it 2 groups of 6 then get the best 4 from both
No mention of Jonas Valančiūnas for Team Lietuva going forward??
Spanoulis💪🇬🇷
Much more than Arvydas Sabonis,Sarunas MARCULIONIS !!!!!💯
Lithuania did not qualify? Wow. Big shock and surprise
My ranking for all the basketball countries/territory in Paris Olympics 2024. 1.USA 2.Canada 3.France 4.Serbia 5.Germany 6.Greece 7.Australia 8.Spain 9.Brazil 10.Puerto Rico 11.South Sudan 12.Japan
Serbia will take the gold, elderly people from the USA have no chance. The only concern for me is France with Gobert and Wembanyama, it is going to be hard against them.
@@01ment yes Serbia will win an Olympic gold medal in basketball. Just like last time they won gold in Olympic basketball. When was that again?
even Yugoslavia could only win when all the good teams boycotted
@@gabepizza So what? Without Jokic and a few other players like Micic and Pokusevski, we have won the silver medal last year in the World Cup. Now Jokic is there, he will eat.
@@freopt Yugoslavia was only slowing down Serbian basketball, since the ethnicity quote was to be fulfilled when it comes to the roster. As you could see, except Slovenia in the previous Eurobasket (when Serbia was second) and Croatia long time ago, no one from the former Yugoslavia is even close to Serbia when it comes to international competitions. Just a reminder from the World Cup in China, we have beaten the USA, and the result of the first quarter was 32:7. And that was the USA team with Jaylen Brown, Kris Middleton and the others, led by Gregg Popovich.
Giannis beating racism with carrying the flag,WELL DONE...i see it like a humiliation for the politics of this country(?)....haha...p.s. loved your text about the story
timestamps please
Urbonas relax it is great to support also Slovenian basketball and Greek basketball.
Dont read and pay attention to crap comments
There was an incident in a night club after the game. Saric got floored....It's a shame.... Peko get the hardware.... hahahahaha
Slovenia is just Donsic now..and Nebo...not the team like 2017...
So Spain will be in Paris, not Latvia, not Lithuania, not Slovenia, not Italy... only Greece and Spain from Europe won the ticket to participate in the olympic tournament.
Just a reminder for all the people that every summer show disrespect for the spanish national team. From 1979 until now Spain has competed in every single championship except in Atlanta in 1996. 11/12 Olympic Games, 11/11 World Championships and all the Eurobaskets at that period of time.
Ok, Spain sucked in this tournament until the final game. It is what it is it was what it was, but at least in the final we could see some defense. Maybe with Abrines and Juancho we can put up a fight in the Olympics. If I have to support anyone besides Spain, I choose Greece as well, they have the heart, crazy Larentzakis, and they have Spanoulis, you just need a little bit of better shooting and maybe get Giannis to the post.😅
Let everyone doubt us as always and we would show up as always. With Juancho and Abrines we have a much better and fluid ofense and on defense we know we can play well to with Alberto, Garuba and Willy. Group phase would be a hard challenge to start the Olympics but would show us how well we can do (or not) from the start. I see us going deep, but wouldn't surprise me that Greece, Australia and Canada overpower us because they are really good teams too.
If not Spain, I'm with Canada, extremelly fun to watch and have the plus of Jordi Fernández as coach.
4 times Olympics for 🇬🇷
It would have been a different result for Lithuania if Jonas Valuncianas was there....
Brazil will surprise germany for sure in paris
I really thought Spain and Greece benefited from playing at home. Neither team I thought played great but the home crowds got them going. If Smith of Croatia hits some of his shots could have been closer. On a neutral floor I feel the Bahamas win that game. PR had home court, but they looked by far the best team anyways. Nice to see Brazil back in the Olympics. They played very well over the 4 games. Should be a good tourney in Paris.
You really think that Greece won because of home court advantage, Croatia was shooting free throws and Greeks couldn't shoot a free throw unless they bleed.
@@larrymcdonald8084 You misunderstand me. I didn't think the refs helped Greece, I thought the team fed off the energy from the home crowd. Greek crowd was really good and pushed the team on.
On a neutral floor Spain is still a much better TEAM that Bahamas and we would have win anyways. Even if we are lacking some top top talent lately, the culture of our team is really strong and we don't depend on it to keep winning teams with arguably more talent than ours.
Don't get me wrong, Bahamas had a chance and fought until the end, but we showed everyone doubting that we are still a force in FIBA, even when we are at a clear transition moment after years of dominance internationally. And I have hopes for us at Paris this summer, it won't be easy but I trust that we can do a really good tournament.
Even in Soviet Union,Sarunas was the best of ALL....
Pičko! 🤣🤣 Good pronunciation. Pozdrav iz Srbije ✋🏻🇷🇸
We already beat LeBron in Athens…we are David..no fear!
Congrats on me
Where is Ignas Brazdeikas ? Matas Buzelis? Tubelis?
Brazdeikis was injured. He had to operate his knee or foot. Buzelis obviously skipped because of NBA. No hard feelings for him. Tubelis was in roster, but he was role player for defense and extra attack. Like alley oop he performed vs Italy.
Georginho has decided to return to Brazil. He is playing for Franca next year
Damn really? I thought he had a solid year in Ulm
@@AugustasSuliauskas It's a shame but I guess he just gets more responsabilities and $ as a superstar here than carving a role in Europe
Stereotyping Greeks as hateful people? Come on Donatas.
You simply don't show the respect to the Greek national team that it deserves. They deserve the harsh critique sometimes but I think you overdo it a lot of the time compared to other teams. It doesn't come across well.
I'm not defending what people messaged you, but what do you expect? Besides, they were probably some teenagers. Like that doesn't happen with Lithuania or other nations.
Oh no, Urbonas supports the Greek national team, that means we're gonna fail 😅
Stay with Slovenia ...no hate come on, only mocking
Where is Rytus xdddddd
Best Lithuanian bbal guard ever? Easy... Sarunas! 🙂
There was one kid called Arvydas Macijauskas, he was literally killing from three. Then he just disappeared, don't know what happened to him.
I feel sad for Lithuania staying out of the Olympics. The Qualifiers are quite unfair: why should Lithuania travel to Puerto Rico, instead of playing in Latvia, which is closer? Why Brazil played in Latvia, instead of playing in Puerto Rico, which is closer to Brazil?
Bahamas played in Spain instead of in Puerto Rico. That seems unreasonable/unfair...
Lithuania travelled to Puerto Rico early, there are no excuses.
So if we would pick Puerto Ricko wouldnt be there any coursing for us???
No dude they are not haters. 2 things happening here. Either u have no idea about basketball or u do it on purpose to get more attention, comments etc. cause u know even the "bad" "hate" commets are good for their channel, for algorithms etc ..
Even a 5year old kid wouldnt choose slovenia over greece with doncic not ready coming of from big playoff run, and btw dragic was playing big role to the slovenians success the recent years, without him they might not have anymore success in the next years, its a different team already without him