In a very lopsided contest, Greece came away with a big 94-53 win over Georgia. Giannis dominated for the Greeks with 27 points, four assists, eight rebounds, and two steals in 25 minutes of action. Georgia was led by former Buck Sandro Mamukelashvili (or just “Mamu”), who had 14 points. Unfortunately for Georgia, Goga Bitadze (who would have guarded Giannis) did not play.
Game Recap
Greece had a tremendous first quarter, with Giannis posting a ridiculous eight points, three assists, two rebounds, and two steals
on 4/4 shooting. In fact, Antetokounmpo and Konstantinos Mitoglou scored Greece’s first 14 points. Greece’s defence was excellent in the early going, racking up five (!) steals in the opening frame; that defence allowed them to get easy baskets in transition. At the end of one, Greece led 22-13.
Georgia made some good strides to open the second, with George Korsantia, Kakhaber Jintcharadze, and Kamar Baldwin scoring seven of the first nine points. However, the Greek defence (and Giannis) got going after that; Antetokounmpo was subbed in at about the six-minute mark of the quarter and scored eight more points to end the half. Even though Hellas was dominating, there was an impressive play from Mamu, who drove down the right side of the court and jammed it over the Greek defender. Still, Greece had a significant 46-29 lead going into the locker room.
Giannis began the third with a corner three, followed by a triple from Kostas Papanikolaou. Antetokounmpo continued to score around the basket as Georgia’s defence could do nothing without Bitadze there to offer some resistance. Greek sharpshooter Giannoulis Larentzakis got in on the act with a three of his own as Hellas extended its lead, up 69-41 after three.
Georgia’s Giorgi Shermadini did all he could to make the final score respectable, dropping six points to open the fourth. However, Greece was just too good, with Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Tyler Dorsey getting those points right back. Giannis was subbed out late in the third quarter as the game was essentially over; observers assumed he would sit for the rest of the contest, but he did come back in with 4:52 left in the game. Giannis would play another few minutes (scoring a few points at the charity stripe), but then was subbed out for good. Greece wins big.
