Milwaukee Bucks: Antetokounmpos unable to prevent Greece’s World Cup exit

The Milwaukee Bucks’ Antetokounmpo brothers couldn’t prevent Greece’s World Cup exit, as a win over the Czech Republic wasn’t enough to advance.

It was always going to be a tall task for Greece to meet the requirements for qualification to the FIBA World Cup quarter finals in their matchup with the Czech Republic on Monday in Shenzhen, and ultimately their valiant effort proved not to be enough.

Having already logged losses to the USA and Brazil in the tournament, Greece’s qualification hinged on them beating the Czechs by a margin of 12 points or more, and the Americans also beating Brazil in the later start in Shenzhen.

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In the end, the latter half of that equation will have no real bearing on Greece as an 84-77 win over the Czech Republic saw Thanasis Skourtopoulos’ team come up short.

The gritty Czechs deserve great credit for holding on as the Greeks frequently found themselves at or within touching distance of the margin required for qualification, but as demonstrated in their upset wins over Turkey and Brazil, the Czech Republic have emerged as one of the most united and cohesive teams in the tournament.

As Greece tried to get to that magic number of 12, the Milwaukee Bucks duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Thanasis Antetokounmpo were unsurprisingly at the heart of most of the game’s high drama.

Giannis’ enjoyed decidedly mixed fortunes over the course of the contest, as he controlled the game for large spells and then let it get away from him with foul trouble.

The ball still wasn’t finding the NBA MVP anywhere close to as often as logic would suggest it should, but between grabbing rebounds and instantly pushing the pace, and earning extra possessions by picking the pockets of Czech ball-handlers, Giannis was at least making sure he was involved.

One byproduct of that was frequent trips to the free throw line, where Giannis unfortunately split each of his trips to finish 4-of-8 from the stripe overall. For any other perceived weaknesses discussed in his game, between the playoffs and this game, it’s clear pressure free throws remain one of his biggest issues.

Giannis wasn’t the only one ensuring he played a part in the game, though, as the officials were incredibly whistle-happy, frequently and needlessly interfering with what should have been one of the most exciting finishes of any game in the tournament.

That led to Giannis fouling out midway through the fourth quarter following a dubious offensive foul call, but in truth that was just one of three fouls assessed to the Bucks star that could have been described as exceedingly harsh.

The foul trouble disrupted Greece from long before the finish too, as Skourtopoulos made a somewhat strange decision to start the second half with Giannis on the bench, to protect his star from fouling out. To be clear, though, although the Greeks may ultimately have bore the brunt of the busy officiating, the Czechs had every right to feel similarly aggrieved about the decision that led to Patrick Auda fouling out.

In short, the officiating did little to help the game.

With Giannis limited by the officials, Greece needed heroes from elsewhere. Nick Calathes was outstanding throughout, finishing with 27 points, six rebounds, and six assists, and putting some recent struggles behind him. It was Thanasis Antetokounmpo who really sprung into life to give the Greeks a chance, though.

After logging just five seconds in the first half to offer defensive relief at the end of a quarter, Thanasis was called into action with the game tied at 42 with 4:49 remaining in the third quarter.

From there, Thanasis went on an incredible solo run as he made a hook shot, got ahead of the play for a transition layup, drained a wing three-pointer, added another layup, and slammed home an alley-oop to give Greece an eight-point lead heading into the final period.

It ultimately didn’t get much better than that for Greece, though, particularly as between guarding against a foul and his fifth and final foul arriving, Giannis logged just 62 seconds in the final frame. The Greeks kept fighting to the end, but the Czechs held their nerve.

Giannis finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a +10 in the box score on the positive side of the ledger, but less helpful were his five fouls, four turnovers, 4-of-9 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 free throw woes.

For Thanasis, that third quarter flurry equated to the sum of his contributions as he finished with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, grabbed one rebound, and was a +2 in the box score, but without it Greece wouldn’t have won the game, let alone been in with a chance of achieving the required 12-point margin.

With that, all eyes will point toward Milwaukee and preparing for the new NBA season for the Antetokounmpo brothers. With Ersan Ilyasova sitting out Turkey’s final classification game against New Zealand, only Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez remain in the tournament from the Bucks’ World Cup contingent.