Greece fell to a dramatic loss to Brazil on Tuesday at the World Cup, and forgot about Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo for much of the game.
In what was bound to be the toughest game of their first round group, Greece fell to a 79-78 loss to Brazil on Tuesday at the FIBA World Cup.
As a result, Greece will need to beat New Zealand to advance to the second round, and with points from the first round carrying over to that stage, they’re now already facing an uphill battle to reach the quarter finals.
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It goes without saying that, in its own right, this result makes for one of the biggest stories of the World Cup to date, but its impact isn’t lessened by considering the primary contributing factor that can’t be overlooked in its aftermath.
In a recurrence of an issue that has haunted the Greek national team in the past, Milwaukee Bucks superstar and NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo found himself frequently isolated on the margins of the team’s offense.
In the entirety of the contest, the 24-year-old only attempted seven field goal attempts, and beyond that it was truly astounding just how often Greek offensive possessions would pass by without him getting a single touch of the ball.
When Greece did get the ball to Giannis, he was frequently met by a wall of Brazilian defenders who made a valiant effort to nullify his impact. That approach and its execution deserves credit, but the fact is that nobody did more to limit Giannis’ impact than his own coach and teammates.
Antetokounmpo was never given an opportunity to initiate, and therefore rarely had the chance to build up a head of steam and attack off the dribble outside of transition. It seemed unimaginable that the Bucks forward wouldn’t be given such an opportunity with Greece trailing by 2 points with just 14 seconds remaining, but instead a lob to Antetokounmpo acted as a high risk contingency that didn’t pay off.
It was even worse than that / they ran a high risk alley oop in traffic for Giannis and then he fouled out. Can we drug test Greece’s coach after this game? Why wouldn’t they just give him the ball at the top of the key? WTF?
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) September 3, 2019
Greece FG attempts in 4th quarter:
— Micah Adams (@MAdamsStatGuy) September 3, 2019
GIANNIS - 1
Calathes - 6
Papapetrou - 4
Printezis - 3
Sloukas - 2
When the best player in the world takes 1 of your team's 16 shots in the final period of a tight game and 3 fewer than a dude named Paw Patrol, that ain't it.
In response, Antetokounmpo had to foul to stop the clock, and picked up his fifth personal to foul out.
Just to get Greece to that point, Antetokounmpo had completed a string of hustle plays under the pressure of knowing an ill-timed reach would have ended his night. Most notably, Antetokounmpo swiped the ball away from Rafa Luz with Brazil up 5, which led to Luz completing an unsportsmanlike foul that gave Greece two free throws and the ball.
When Giannis departed for the night with five fouls, even then the Greeks had a chance to tie as Kostas Sloukas went to the free throw line needing to make all three attempts to extend the game.
Sloukas knocked down the first two, but with the third bouncing around the rim, Bruno Caboclo took full advantage of FIBA’s live rim rules to bat the ball away and seize the win for Brazil.
In all, Giannis finished the game having played 28 minutes, scoring 13 points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field, while also contributing four rebounds, three steals, and registering a +9 in the box score.
In other Milwaukee Bucks news, Thanasis Antetokounmpo saw considerably less floor time as he logged just four minutes of action in the second quarter, providing good defensive energy but missing his two field goal attempts during that span.
Greece will be back in action for a win or go home clash with New Zealand on Thursday.