Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is set to lead Greece in the 2015 EuroBasket. (Photo : Reuters)
Unheralded European squad Macedonia will clash with tough team Greece in the Group C preliminary round competitions of the 2015 FIBA EuroBasket at the Arena Zagreb in Croatia on Saturday.
Macedonia placed a low 21st during the 2013 EuroBasket with a 1-4 record and is again not expected to survive the elimination round group matches this year.
Coach Marijan Srbinovski has an additional problem as the team will be playing without their leading scorer, American-Macedonian Bo McCalebb, this year, who retired from international play after the tournament in 2013.
Veteran point guard Vlado Ilievski is set to take the place of McCalebb and will try to lead his team to a better finish than the last time they were here,
"My great desire is to qualify to the next round from the group," Ilievski said, as per the tournament's official website. "I believe in my teammates and I think we have enough motivation and quality to advance to the Final Phase."
Meanwhile, Greece has three NBA players at its disposal. Milwaukee Bucks' small forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is set to lead the team with veteran Sacramento Kings center Kostas Koufos and Denver Nuggets forward Kostas Papanikolaou to support him, via Talk Basket.
The team will also have veteran leader Vassilis Spanoulis and former Memphis Grizzlies point guard Nick Calathes to provide depth and experience.
Coached by Fotis Katsikaris, Greece is one of the teams to watch out for in this year's EuroBasket.
With all of Greece's strength on paper, the team is anticipated to blow right past the Macedonians on opening day.
Prediction: Greece wins, 84-56
Macedonia starting five: Predrag Samardžiski (C), Bojan Trajkovski (PF), Marko Simonovski (SF), Vojdan Stojanovski (SG), Vlado Ilievski (PG)
Greece starting five: Kostas Koufos (C), Georgios Printezis, Giannis Antetokounmpo (SF), Vassilis Spanoulis (SG), Nick Calathes (PG)
