The 1994 FIBA World Championship in Canada, featured some of the shiniest basketball stars of the 90s, such as Shaquille O'Neal, Reggie Miller, Dominique Wilkins, Joe Dumars, Mark Price and Shawn Kemp, playing for the USA Basketball team (AKA Dream Team II), Tony Kukoc and Dino Radja for the Croatian side, or even Rick Fox (Canada), Juan Antonio San Epifanio (Spain) and Panagiotis Yannakis (Greece).
The tournament was also marked by the perfomances of newcomer in the world stage of basketball - Steve Nash, playing for Canada and Greek legend Fanis Christodoulou.
Steve Nash, even as young as he was, became Canada's MVP leading the team to the quarter finals, showing great leadership and clearly overshadowing his teammate Rick Fox (an established Boston Celtic at the time).
Fanis Christodoulou (drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in 1987), the man that taught the Greeks how to play all around basketball back in the 80s, was (not surprisingly) the focal point of the greek team's route to the 4th place of the tournament.
The two players faced each other in the quarter finals.
Nash scored 13 points on 3/3 shooting from the three point line and dished 4 assists, being an offensive fear for the greek side, while guiding Canada like a true Maestro from the point guard position.
Christodoulou scored 26 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished 3 assists and stole the ball 4 times, having a Charles Barkley type of game.
The final score was 74-71 for the greeks but individually, the two players made their own statement to the basketball community:
Fanis Christodoulou proved his amazing basketball IQ internationally, while Steve Nash made it clear to everyone that he was ready to play in the NBA.
5 сен 2024
