Greece heads to Beijing in style

(BEIJING, July 20) -- The Greek men's basketball team made its fans proud after comfortably beating world No. 12 Puerto Rico 88-63 in the semifinals of the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men on July 20 in Athens, earning a ticket to the Beijing Olympics.

Greece dominated right from the start, taking the first quarter 19-11 and setting the tone for the rest of the game.

The situation got worse for Puerto Rico when backbone Carlos Arroyo left the match due to a torn muscle. Although the team played well on offense, scoring 24 points, it struggled defensively, allowing Greece to score 29 points. The score at half-time was 48-35, with a 13-point lead for the host team.

Greece showed determination to win the match by maintaining good form in the second half. They scored 20 points in each of the remaining two quarters while only conceding 28 points. Celebrations began early in the fourth quarter for Greek fans as Team Puerto Rico all but conceded the game, taking out all its starters in preparation for the final clash with Germany.

Dallas Mavericks point guard Jose Juan Barea was the only double-digit scorer for Puerto Rico, netting 16 points. His team did well in defending the board, grabbing eight offensive rebounds, two more than the Greeks. Meanwhile, Greece was superior all around, dishing out 18 assists and shooting 41.7% behind the arc. Theodoros "Theo" Papaloukas sent out 10 assists while scoring nine points. Their best scorer was Dimitris Diamantidis, who went six of eight from the field, netting 15 points.

After the match Papaloukas said that his teamed deserved the ticket to Beijing. "Everybody considered us favorites, but it's very hard to show it on the court. We were very well prepared and we did the best on the court," he said.

Puerto Rico was left with no choice but to try to beat Germany, who was surprisingly defeated by Croatia in another semifinal. The final showdown will take place on Sunday.