Eurobasket 2005

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With a team full of Euroleague and ULEB Cup players from top to bottom, Greece seized the gold medal at EuroBasket 2005 with a no-doubt-about-it 78-62 victory over Germany before 19,000 fans in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro on a Sunday, September 25 night.

Fans who took 10-hour bus rides to get there turned Belgrade Arena into a home court for the Greeks, who won their only previous continental title back home in Athens in 1987. CSKA Moscow guard Theodoros Papaloukas was masterful in leading Greece with 22 points, 6 assists and 3 steals, but he had lots of help. Nikos Zisis of Benetton added 13 points. Michalis Kakiouzis of Winterthur FC Barcelona shot Greece ahead in the first half and finished with 11 points. Dimitris Diamantidis of Panathinaikos, whose buzzer-beater saved Greece in the semifinals, set the tone with first-half steals of the kind that made him the Euroleague's first Best Defender Trophy winner last season. German superstar Dirk Nowitzki was named MVP after finishing with 23 points and leaving to a loud ovation with 3 minutes left in the game. Along with Nowitzki, Papaloukas, Diamantidis, Boris Diaw of France and Juan Carlos Navarro of Spain made the all-tournament team. "You always dream of gold, but you don't ever say it," Papaloukas said after. "Now, we have it here, around our necks." Earlier, France ran away with the bronze medal by beating Spain 98-68 in the third-place game this afternoon. It was France's fifth medal ever, all bronze except one silver, but its first of any kind in the tournament since 1959. But in the end, the night, the tournament and the crown belonged to one team only, and that was none other than Greece!