In Riga, Latvia today, Greece fought off a few comeback attempts but never surrendered the lead during their round of 16 matchup against Israel and Blazers forward Deni Avdija, reaching the EuroBasket quarterfinals for the fourth time in as many tournaments. Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo had perhaps his most dominant outing in a tournament that’s been full of them, pouring in 37 points and gathering 10 boards. Remarkably, Giannis was one of merely two Greeks in double figures; the other—Kostas
Sloukas—had only 11.
As you might gather from that factoid, Giannis was the Greek offense. Shooting 18/23, he took a plurality of the Hellas’ shots, got to the line only twice, and accrued just one assist. Due in part to his teammates’ shooting woes (the rest of the team shot a less-than-ideal 36.5% from the floor), the Greeks couldn’t build much of a lead. Avdija led Israel with 22, with contributions from former Oregon Duck Roman Sorkin and Tomer Ginat, each with 15 points. Greece’s advantage waned to two late in the third quarter, but a largely sans-Giannis lineup improbably built the lead back to eight before the horn sounded. A Giannis fastbreak dunk soon after he re-entered made it a 14-point game, and it wasn’t until the final minute that Israel got within six, though by then the game was out of reach.
Giannis’ day is one of the most prolific single-game outputs of the tournament so far, four points more than Nikola Jokic scored yesterday in a loss. Jokic, Luka Doncic, and Simone Fontecchio, of all people, have each scored 39 this year, only behind Lauri Markkanen’s 43. However, all of those totals came during group play.
If you were wondering, Thanasis saw only seven minutes, did not attempt a shot from the field, dropped a single dime… and committed three personals. I certainly forgot how quickly Thanasis could accumulate whistles in the year he was away from NBA basketball. Kostas had four points in 10 minutes.
With the defeats of Serbia and France yesterday and today, respectively, the Greeks are shaping up as one of the few remaining favorites in the field. They’ll take on Lithuania on Tuesday in Riga, looking to clinch their first semifinal appearance since 2009. Also facing off on Tuesday to face the winner of Greece and Lithuania are undefeated Turkey and Poland, home of Brew Hoop’s Dawid Księżarczyk. The three other significant threats are on the other side of the bracket: Germany, Slovenia (who match up in the quarters on Wednesday), and Finland. Only one of those teams will make the finals, of course. Given the way the field has unfolded, anything short of a spot in the finals would be quite disappointing for the Greeks.
