The quest for Greece to return to the EuroBasket final for the first time in 20 years has ended, as Turkey held Giannis Antetokounmpo to 12 points en route to winning by 26, 94-68. Kostas Sloukas led Hellas with 15 points, and outside of him and Giannis, the only other Greek player to score in double figures was Panagiotis Kalaitzakis with 11. Ercan Osmani, who has a career average of 5.7 points per game in the EuroLeague, dropped 28 points on 11/15 shooting from the field and 6/8 from three-point
range for Turkey. Houston Rockets big man Alperen Sengun put up a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while former Cleveland Cavaliers wing Cedi Osman added another 17 points.
It was all Turkey from the word go, as they outscored Greece 49-31 in the first half. Giannis himself, who had played like Hercules for nearly this entire run, was limited to just four points in the first half, and the rest of the roster couldn’t keep up with Turkey’s offense. Greece finally scored 20+ points in a quarter in the third with 20 on the button, but they were still outscored by Turkey 23-20. Even with that closer margin, Greece still found itself down by 21 entering the fourth, and there wasn’t any push for a comeback in the fourth quarter.
As is standard, Giannis wasn’t the only Antetokounmpo who played (or current Milwaukee Buck), with both Kostas and Thanasis getting some run. The brothers combined for 10 points total, while Kostas had another strong performance on the low block with five rebounds and three blocks. The second-oldest Antetokounmpo brother only had four points in nine minutes on the floor for Greece.
Turkey moves on to play Germany in the final on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Central, after Germany held off a comeback from Finland. That doesn’t mean that Greece is totally done playing, as they have a shot at a bronze medal. They’ll take on Finland, who’s led by the Utah Jazz’s Lauri Markkanen. That will take place in Riga at 9:00 a.m. Central this Sunday, so no worries if you want to watch NFL football and Giannis: you can do both. If they win, it will be the first medal for Greece in international play since 2009, when they won bronze at EuroBasket.
