Greece vs Italy Prediction and Preview - Aug. 28

Greece opens its 2025 EuroBasket campaign on Thursday against two-time gold medalist, Italy. The Greeks, led by Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, enter the tournament after winning four of their seven preparation games.

Meanwhile, the Gianmarco Pozzecco-coached Italian team also showed its readiness by finishing the 2025 EuroBasket preparation with a 4-2 record. Behind Miami Heat forward Simone Fontecchio, the Gli Azzurris showed their grit, winning games against Argentina and Latvia ahead of the tournament.

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Greece vs Italy Preview, Lineups and Prediction

The Spyros Kyprianou Arena in Cyprus will host the showdown, which starts at 9:30 PM local time and 2:30 p.m. ET. Courtside 1891 will also stream the game live via a paid subscription.

Moneyline: GRE (-265) vs. ITA (+200)

Spread: GRE (-5.5) vs ITA (+5.5)

Total: GRE o163.5 (-115) vs. ITA u163.5 (-111)

Editor’s Note: The odds could change closer to the game.

Greece vs Italy Preview

The Greeks will be glad to have Giannis on board after he received his clearance from the NBA late to take part in the tournament. They will hope that his presence will power them to a first title since 2005.

The Blues will be competing in their 38th EuroBasket Tournament, and under coach Pozzecco will hope to win Italy’s first EuroBasket title since 1999. They defeated Turkey and Iceland during the qualifiers and come into the tournament as dark horses. Heat forward Fontecchio is the player to watch for Italy in this tournament.

Greece vs Italy lineups

GRE

Kostas Papanikolaou
Kostas Sloukas
Giannoulis Larentzakis
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Dinos Mitoglou
Panagiotis Kalaitzakis
Dimitris Katsivelis
Kostas Antetokounmpo
Vassilis Toliopoulos
Tyler Dorsey
Alexandros Samodurov
Thanasis Antetokounmpo

ITA

Marco Spissu
Darius Thompson
Danilo Gallinari
Nicolo Mell
Simone Fontecchio
Giampaolo Ricci
Matteo Spagnolo
Gabriele Procida
Saliou Niang
Momo Diouf
Nikola Akele
Alessandro Pajola

Greece vs Italy Prediction

Unless they get complacent and play way below expectations, the Greeks should open the 2025 EuroBasket with a win over the Italians. They previously met on Friday with the Greeks winning 76-74.

While that was a preparation game, both teams will approach this game with a different mentality. The Greeks have a win percentage of 72.6 compared to 33.3% for the Italians.

About the author

Ubong Richard Archibong is an NBA and WNBA journalist at Sportskeeda with over a year's experience in the field with FirstSportz.

Ubong is an LA Lakers fan, and he grew up watching Kobe Bryant taking on everyone with his Mamba mentality. Ubong's love for the Lakers hit another level when his favorite player, LeBron James, joined LA from the Cavs. Other than LeBron, Ubong likes Anthony Edwards, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and Phil Jackson.

Beyond the court, Ubong is a traveler at heart and a Chelsea fan, always ready for the thrill and tension they bring. When not working, Ubong likes traveling and volunteering.

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Edited by nagpaltusharn25