EUROBASKET 2011

Preview by Yarone Arbel

The game will not influence the fate of either team, but it will provide a last opportunity for Georgia's young star Tornike Shengelia to shine at EuroBasket 2011, before his team bows out

GROUP F - MONDAY AT 18:00 (17:00 CET)

This game will attract less attention but is worth a look for both sides. Greece have already qualified and will finish third in Group F no matter what the results in this or the other games are.

Georgia stand at 0-4 and have no chance whatsoever to qualify to the next round.

Nevertheless, each of these two teams wish to have reasons to fight for a win. Greece will use this game to test the waters before the Quarter-Finals.

Knowing they will face France, who finished second in Group E, it's clear they need all their energy for that game, but also to work on new things that could be used as a surprising weapon in the crucial quarter-final clash.

Georgia are out of the picture but still have pride. A lot of pride. While on top of their pride there's also the circumstance.

This is the first EuroBasket for Georgia and every victory is still sweet, and surely nobody wants to go home with four losses in a row.

The absence of Zaza Pachulia and George Tsintsadze isn't making life easier for Georgia, but they will fight till the buzzer to fly home with a good last memory.

Head-to-Head: Greece and Georgia have faced each other only two times in the past during the qualifying games for EuroBasket 1997. Greece won both games but fought to win 65-61 in Tbilisi.

Last Time Out: Greece were better than Slovenia with an 83-67 victory while Georgia lost to Finland 87-73.

Key Match-Up: Georgia's Viktor Sanikidze is a 2.03m light forward who can really jump and make most of his points around the rim. Greece's Ioannis Bouroursis is a 2.13m heavier power forward/center though he makes a lot of points away from the rim. How they handle each other will have an effect on the final score.

Key Stat: Greece showed two different faces in the Second Round. In the key win over Slovenia they collected nine three pointers on 52.9% shooting while against Russia they hit the ball from the arc just six times in 21 attempts. In both games, Greece reached almost the same tally with 69 and 67 points, but the missed shots allowed Russia to score 83 points while Slovenia were stopped at 60.

X-Factor: 20-year-old Tornike Shengelia of Georgia is one of the best youngsters in EuroBasket 2011 and he's displaying so far 8.4 points and 4.6 rebounds. His quickness at the power forward position could create a big headache for the front line of Greece that is a bit heavier.

Sounding Off: "It's a strange game because none of the teams will be affected by the result in the standings, but we have to be very focused and after a bad game against Russia, we have to recover playing much-much better on defense. We will use this game to expand our rotation, give some rest to our main guys but we never forget that we must have a very good defense in order to fix our problems," says Greece Head Coach Ilias Zouros