The cynical play for Greece might have been trying to schedule their bailouts in a default-friendly way. Accept bailouts, conduct several rounds of aggressive cuts to balance the budget (while financing with tranche funds), blame the Eurozone for them at home, and then default with a balanced budget immediately after a funding unlock.

I'm not sure it was possible - the deficit was too big to close without damaging the economy - but I suspect that leaning on international support while preparing an easy default might have been the best chance.

If they'd been able to balance the budget, they wouldn't have been in that state in the first place!