Despite the efforts of Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and his brother, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Greece collapsed late to Serbia in overtime, while Ersan Ilyasova and Turkey salvaged a win in the final day of the Acropolis Tournament.
It was a tale of two comebacks for the Milwaukee Bucks players that took part in the final day of the Acropolis Tournament Sunday.
Going for gold in what was a highly anticipated clash against a fellow undefeated Serbian squad that was filled with some heated moments, Greece fell in overtime to the Eagles in an 85-80 loss.
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The two Antetokounmpo brothers were at the center of Greece’s overall performance, including extending the game into the five-minute overtime period.
Starting with the reigning MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo got his showing started by burying a three early on in the first quarter, the first of two triples on the day for the Greek phenom.
A couple of monster transition scores followed, including an incredible euro-step poster dunk on Serbian international Sacramento Kings combo guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, which helped maintain the early edge on Serbia.
Giannis continued to show off his range from both downtown and mid-range to mixed results, and he did have a decent day at the free throw line by connecting on 8 of his 12 tries from the charity stripe.
On the other end, Antetokounmpo buckled down to deliver show-stopping defensive highlights, which featured a couple of chasedown and recovery blocks, and he was the beneficiary of pick pocketing Serbian ball handlers when Greece was disrupting Serbia’s rhythm early on. All in all, Antetokounmpo finished with 20 points, four steals, four blocks, two assists and one rebound in over 33 minutes of action.
Turning our sights over to the other brother in action, Thanasis Antetokounmpo provided a much needed spark for Greece. Unlike his previous two outings in the tournament, the elder Antetokounmpo spent most of Sunday letting it fly to impressive results and all five of his triples came in various ways (catch-and-shoot, off the dribble, step back, etc).
But by far and away, the biggest long ball Antetokounmpo hit came in the waning moments of regulation when, down by 3 and with time ticking down to nearly single digits, the 27-year-old canned a semi-contested three at the top of the key that knotted things up at 72 to eventually force overtime.
🇬🇷 - 🇷🇸! @Thanasis_ante43 just tied the game at 72! 18,000 people watching 🔥 pic.twitter.com/0V2zyhb7Rd
— Dionysis Aravantinos (@AravantinosDA) August 18, 2019
Thanasis posted 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting from long range, five rebounds, three steals and two assists in over 31 minutes of run off the bench.
While Greece ended up falling in the culminating game Sunday in Athens, Ersan Ilyasova and the Turkish national team provided the lead-in with their final tournament game, which came against Italy.
With both teams having lost their first two tilts over as many days, both national teams looked to salvage their runs in the tournament and it was Turkey who came out on top with a 72-70 comeback win after erasing a 13-point deficit upon entering the fourth quarter.
The 32-year-old veteran was virtually a mainstay on the court for the 12 Giant Men and he got things rolling by knocking in his lone three of the day on Turkey’s first offensive possession. After setting up his teammates for scores by handling the ball a bit and dishing it out away from the pressure set by the opposing defense, Ilyasova really got rolling in the second quarter to help Turkey come within reach, and then to lead Italy by 3 at the halftime break.
That consisted of Ilyasova doing the very things that we’ve been accustomed to seeing over the years, such as hitting fadeaway shots from mid-range, cleaning up on the offensive glass and converting second chance points and catching the defense sleeping on an out of bounds play to put home an easy layup.
While Ilyasova didn’t hold the same effectiveness in the second half compared to that same run, he still managed to hit a touch turnaround fadeaway in the post to add to Turkey’s comeback run as well as providing a much needed presence on the glass. The lone flaw standing in his game for the day was going 3-of-6 from the foul line.
When it was all said and done, Ilyasova put up a double-double (16 points and 11 boards), three assists, and two steals in over 35 minutes of action.
With the Acropolis tournament now finished up, both Greece and Turkey will set their sights on making the necessary adjustments in order to get ready for the start of the FIBA World Cup, which gets underway in less than two weeks.