Greece defeated Czech Republic 84-77 in their second game in the second round in the FIBA Basketball World Cup on Monday, but the score difference of seven points was not good enough to send the winning team to the quarterfinals. As USA beat Brazil 89-73 in the game earlier on Monday, USA and Czech Republic became the last two teams to make the quarterfinals.

Greece decided to build their game from defense. Every time Czech Republic's Tomas Satoransky handled the ball, he would meet pressing defense from the Greek side. If he tried to penetrate, Greece already set up multiple layers of defense within the 3-point line. The 27-year-old, 2.01-meter guard deserved such efforts because he's the offensive engine and the best playmaker of Czech Republic.

In offense, Greece had Giannis Antetokounmpo do more off-ball movement on the court so he could catch the ball either in the weak side where the defense pressure was smaller or closer to the rim so the Greek Freak could assault the rim directly without dribbling much. Moreover, when the team had fast break chance, Giannis would definitely be their first choice to maximize the power of his combination of speed, strength and size.

In response, Czech Republic stuck to zone defense to triple team Giannis, once he had the ball. The benefit was that the 2019 NBA MVP only got nine points but the bad news was he earned six free throws while Czech Republic committed in total 11 fouls in the first half.

Neither side were able to launch scoring run in the first half. Thanks to their one more 3-pointer buried, Czech Republic managed to lead 33-32 before the second half.

In most time of the third quarter, the two teams continued the situation of "intense defense + difficult offense" until the last three minutes when Greece sent Thanasis Antetokounmpo, brother of Giannis. Since then, Greece suddenly put great ball pressure on Greek players and launched continuous transition offense which extended their lead to eight points (57-49) before the last quarter.

Though Greece tried to continue their transition offense storm, Czech Republic calmed down, realizing that instead of winning, all they needed was not to lose by over 12 points. Therefore, every shot they made was way more valuable than that of Greece. Meanwhile, Giannis being fouled out after a controversial call of offensive foul increased the anxiety of Greek players who continued to miss open 3-pointers and free throws.

As Satoransky scored four precious points in the last minute via one offensive rebound and a fade-away shot, Czech Republic ruined Greece's last hope for quarterfinals.

Other games on Monday:

Japan 65-80 Montenegro

Dominican Republic 55-74 Lithuania

Jordan 79-77 Senegal

Turkey 101-102 New Zealand

France 98-100 Australia

Germany 82-76 Canada

USA 89-73 Brazil