The men’s national team arrived in Riga, Latvia early on Friday morning, where the EuroBasket will continue until its conclusion.

After a necessary rest, the Greek squad held its first practice in the evening at “Arena Riga,” where on Sunday night (21:45) they will face Israel in the Round of 16.

Katsivelis: “Giannis makes everything easier”

Right after practice, Dimitris Katsivelis told Greek media:

“Israel is a very good team. They rely on Avdija, but it’s not just him. They are very athletic and play in transition. We had a meeting and tomorrow we’ll prepare further to be at the right level for the knockout game.

Yesterday’s match was essentially a knockout game before the knockouts. It was very tough with a comeback in the score. It helped us, first because we secured first place, and second because it prepared us for the most important games ahead.

From the first-phase games we need to keep the periods where we had tremendous focus, especially on defense. Our spacing was also at a high level for much of the game. But we must improve on the ‘dead’ stretches we had both offensively and defensively.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is an unbelievable player and athlete. The way he reads the game, how he draws the defense like a magnet and passes the ball—it makes everyone’s job around him so much easier.”

Kalavros: “We showed character against Spain”

Vassilis Spanoulis’ assistant, Michalis Kalavros, also spoke about the upcoming clash with Israel and about Antetokounmpo, Sloukas, and Papanikolaou:

“We keep the positives and correct the mistakes. We prepare for every game separately, always seriously, and we try to follow the coach’s plan as closely as possible. I think we did that yesterday to a large extent. We showed great character, especially when the game slipped and Spain went ahead. But we stayed calm, mainly we showed character, and we got a huge win. It didn’t decide anything, but it gave us first place and, more importantly, psychological momentum.

Israel is a very tough team; they never give up. They have several aspects to their game that you have to be ready for, but the recipe is simple: take it one game at a time, step by step, possession by possession. We achieved the first goal—first place—and now we look at the next.

It also helped that we played such a decisive game before the knockouts. Yesterday was about first place. Even though every team can cause trouble, we had set the goal to finish first, and we did. That game prepared us for what’s next—perfect timing for us.

From the Cyprus games, we want to keep our team spirit, competitiveness, commitment to the plan, strong defense… In general, we’re a very good team and we have great confidence.

No team at this stage is just one or two players. Avdija is a great player—he’s proven that in the NBA—but Israel has many others who can cause problems. Avdija is the engine, but the whole team is good. At this level you can’t think only of 1–2 players; you prepare for all of them.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is here playing for the national team. He wants to win, and he does everything for his team to win. That’s who Giannis is in general, and especially now—he puts the team above all else.

What can I say about Papanikolaou and Sloukas… I’ve worked with both, they are friends, role models for everyone. Their attitude and personality in the team are such that you just follow. They lead by example without saying anything—you see what they do, and you do it too. They are two huge figures in Greek basketball. Everyone knows it, not just me. We’re lucky to have them here with us.”