At the EuroBasket 2007, the defending European champions advanced to the semi-finals where they faced the hosts and reigning World champions Spain, in a rematch of the final one year prior. Greece came close to take revenge but eventually lost 82–77, and played in the bronze medal game where they succumbed to Lithuania. At the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, another last-second defeat 80–78 to Argentina in the quarter-finals led Greece to a 5th-place finish once again. At the EuroBasket 2009, the national team was potently changed, with a bunch of young players and without key players Theodoros Papaloukas and Dimitris Diamantidis, as well as Panagiotis Vasilopoulos and Kostas Tsartsaris, the tournament was perceived as the turning point for Greece after their major recent achievements. However, after their fourth consecutive defeat to Spain in the semi-finals and sixty years after their first, and last, bronze medal they managed to take the podium in the third position against the odds, with a thrilling 57–56 win over Slovenia, ceasing the curse of being defeated in all bronze medal matches in their history.