After the end of Greece-Russia game and Russia’s win which was “questionable” to say the least, Greek center Bourousis exchanged some heated words with Turkey’s coach Bogdan Tanjevic.
There was much speculation as to whether Greece and Russia would want to win today’s game (loser would probably avoid Spain and USA in the next rounds) and that sparked some tension between many sides. But let’s get more specific:
Everything started after the final whistle of the game which found Russians as the winners.
Tanjevic who was watching the game from the first row of the stands (Turkey plays against China in some minutes in the same arena) approached the Greek bench right after the game ended and ironically clapped and told Bourousis: “Congratulations, you did the same thing for the second consecutive year” (meaning Greece had given away the game to France in last Eurobasket).
Of course that did not satisfy the short tempered Greek center who moved towards Tanjevic and in turn told him something. Word after word the arena security guards (and Kazlauskas later on) had to come in between the two men in order for thing not to escalate.
Russian team coach David Blatt had also something to say about the game: “Greeks should be ashamed. What we saw was comedy, not basketball. Greeks shot to miss, on the other hand my players played with passion…”
Editor’s Note: We heard the Greek side, but after Turkey-China game Tanjevic had his say as well, so we had to include it: “I congratulated the Greeks for their efforts as a joke. Then Bourousis started kicking some bottles at the Greek bench. I was heading towards Blatt to greet him. He (Bourousis) is watching too much cinema. It’s not Berlin or Venice festivals here, but the World Championship.”
Let’s hope that some people grow up at some time of their lives… and stick to basketball which they know best.{jathumbnail off}
