Preview >> USA Men vs. Greece

TV: Live at 8:00 a.m. on USA, USA HD
*All times listed are Eastern Daylight Time.

In the 2008 Olympics
Greece opened its 2008 Olympic play with an 81-66 loss to World Champion Spain. Vasileios Spanoulis scored 15 points and Diamantidis, who has been voted 'Defender of the Year' in the Euroleague three consecutive times and was the 2007 Euroleague Final MVP, added 14 points. Most recently, Greece earned a 23-point win against Germany, 87-64. Spanoulis tallied 23 points and five assists, followed by 15 points from Theo Paploukas. Overall, Greece enters the game shooting 58.0 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from 3-point and just 63.6 percent from the free throw line.

Aug. 10: Spain 81, Greece 66 � Stats
Aug. 12: Greece 87, Germany 64 � Stats

A Little History
Greece, who earned its Olympic berth at the July FIBA Olympic World Qualifying Tournament, is a medal favorite at the 2008 Olympics. The country has played the USA just once in Olympic play, with the USA securing a 77-71 win in 2004. The last time the two teams met, however, Greece shocked the United States with a 101-95 victory in the semifinals of the 2006 FIBA World Championship. Greece has twice finished fifth at the Olympics, in 1996 and 2004.

The Scouting Report
Tony Ronzone, Director of International Player Personnel
How would you describe the team's attitude about playing Greece?
I think our team is extremely ready and prepared for this game knowing that we got beat by them in 2006. It's not a payback game, but it's a game to show that we are better than how we played in the loss. Our guys will be very up, and Coach K probably won't have to say much in the locker room. The team is emotionally and mentally ready to play this game.

What have you seen so far from Greece?
They didn' t play well against Germany, and they got beat by Spain, but in my opinion I think they are better than they were in 2006. Spanolis is a lot more mature, Diamantidus is better. They changed their center, and it's a different team. Their big guy, 'Baby Shaq,' he's bigger. He is one of those guys when he comes into the game, they don't care if he picks up offensive fouls, he just pounds it, pounds it, pounds it. They haven't shot well so far, and some people might say they aren't as good as they have been, but I disagree. We need to be mentally prepared and know that they will be a lot better than we what we saw from them against Spain for example.

How would you describe their style?
They are the best team in the world in my opinion at penetrate and kicks. Most teams when they catch, they catch and shoot. But Greece is different, they catch and drive and then they kick. And they repeat that -- drive and kick, drive and kick -- until they have drawn all your help inside. That's when they like to shoot. The only guy that can really can break you down one-on-one is Spanolous. They also want to set high pick and roll screens, which they hurt us with in 2006. They want us to chase, and once we do, they swing it around the perimeter, and that's where they get you. As long as we don't get caught playing their system, we'll be ok. They want to control tempo, and we can't let them do that.

How do we approach the game defensively?
I don't think we can pressure too much and deny everything out on the pick-and-rolls. Coach K will decide exactly what we will do, but I think we will probably go under the screens when they are set high, and anything set on the side we will play normal. They also, like a lot of European teams, slip screens. They don't set, hold and wait like we do in America. They set and almost immedialy slip, so we have to react quicker and we can't get caught pressuring high. It's a little tough coming off Angola because that wasn't really a game that helps prepare you for Greece.

And what about the USA offense?
Well first we need to limit them to one shot, and we have to have five guys on the boards. We will get points in transition, but we also will have to play them in more of a half court setting than we played so far in this tournment. They are a good team. They played really well in the qualifying tournament to get here.