Nikos Galis in tears during his Greece jersey retirement ceremony / News - Basketnews.com

Nikos Galis was moved watching his No.4 Greece NT jersey getting retired from the Greek Federation at the OAKA arena.

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The vast majority of an audience of 13,000 fans came rather late to the OAKA Arena on Friday afternoon, but still, quite on time for the first of the two big events scheduled at the venue.

This time around, Giannis Antetokounmpo wasn't there to steal the show for the home side, as he did in the games leading up to last year's EuroBasket. But that didn't mean local fans were spared of thrills.

The Greek Basketball Federation took the occasion of the friendly prep game between Greece and Slovenia to bestow the highest honor upon the country's ultimate basketball idol, Nikos Galis. When the lights went off and the legendary retired player appeared, fans used their phones' flashlights to create a unique atmosphere.

Galis was evidently moved, desperately trying to hold back tears when an entire arena was chanting his name. Before his jersey with the number 4 went up the rafters, he stepped by both benches to great players from both teams. Galis greeted Luka Doncic, who hugged him and then followed the whole Slovenian bench.

The Hall of Famer watched with all the rest a video with a small account of his achievements.

A few moments later, when he made a helpless attempt to utter some words of gratitude, he was overcome by emotion.

"I'm very excited, it's a big moment," he said.

The last act of the ceremony included FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis and Greek Federation president Vangelis Liolios, who handed Galis two frames with a collage of some of his iconic moments.

The two captains, Kostas Papanikolaou and Luka Doncic, took turns to pay tribute to honoree before Galis stood for a photo shoot with both squads.

Born to Greek parents in New Jersey 66 years ago, Galis became the torchbearer for a country that had never been close to a medal in an important tournament before his arrival.

Galis was selected by the Boston Celtics with the 68th pick in the 1979 Draft. The Celtics front office had decided to put emphasis on Bird. The team'S GM, Red Auerbach, would deeply regret this move, as he stated in an interview. When asked about the biggest mistake of his career, he replied: "Not giving Galis a contract was the biggest mistake of my career."

Galis guided the Balkan country through its first FIBA World Cup attempt in 1986 that ended up in 10th place, before erupting with a string of memorable performances at the 1987 EuroBasket, hosted at the Peace and Friendship Stadium. Galis dropped 40 against the Soviet Union in the final game, helping his team win gold.

Two years later, Galis and Greece came close to repeating the feat, as the gifted scorer produced 45 points against the USSR in the EuroBasket semis. The former Yugoslavia won the title, but the finalists had made their point.

Galis played his last tournament with Greece in the 1991 EuroBasket in Rome, where his side ended up 5th. He was 34 when he left the national team, but his records are still standing.

Among his accolades, the man known as 'The Gangster' boasts:

1 EuroBasket MVP title (1987), where he averaged 37 points over 8 games 4 EuroBasket top scorer awards (1983, 1987, 1989, 1991) 1 World Cup top scorer award (1986) The record for the most points scored by a Greek player, when he dropped 53 vs. Panama in 1986 The highest scoring average in the history of Greece with 30,5 points per game (5,120 points over 168 games) Five out of six best-scoring performances in EuroBasket history. Galis currently holds spots 3,4, 6 and 7 on the TOP10 list, which also features Eddy Terrace, Luka Doncic, Miki Berkowitz, Doron Jamchy, Nenad Markovic and Emiliano Rodriguez.

Although his small size (1.84 m.) didn't help him on paper, his opponents were mostly suffering whenever he stood on the court.

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has recognized him as the greatest European scorer of all time thanks to his 24,721 points and average of 32,8 points per game of his professional career. In 2007, he became the first Greek basketball player to join the FIBA Hall of Fame and in 2017 the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

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