It was a familiar feeling for Milwaukee Bucks fans watching Giannis Antetokounmpo try to carry Greece through the Olympics in France. In Lille, defeats to Canada and Spain put their run in doubt, but Giannis continued to shine. A win over Australia put them into the quarter-finals, where they took on the reigning World Champions in Germany.
Greece was completely outclassed. Greece had a solid team but struggled to support Giannis. Meanwhile, Germany was a very well-built team with Dennis Schroder and Franz Wagner taking the lead and complementary role players helping lead them to a 76-63 victory.
In every game Greece played, Giannis led the game in scoring, and this quarter-final was no different. Spending most of the game playing at the center position, he tallied 22 points, two rebounds and three assists on 64 percent shooting. Again, only Kostas Papanikolaou (10 points) and Thomas Walkup (12 points) also hit double-digit points, and there were multiple players who never managed to find their groove in the game.
Franz Wagner had a terrific game scoring 18 points, backed up by Schroder's 13 points and Johannes Thiemann's 10 points. The rest of their players that scored the floor put up at least five points, to contrast five of Greece's 10 man rotation failed to score more than five points. It felt very familiar to some Bucks games when only Giannis is the one that can get anything going.
Greece and Giannis Antetokounmpo can be proud of their Olympics run
Greece took on the "Group of Death" and, despite having Giannis, were favored to miss out on progressing to the knockout stages. Yet, they proved everyone wrong. Losing to one of the favorites in Canada, losing to the European champions in Spain, beating Tokyo 2021 Bronze medalists Australia and then losing to the World Champions is nothing to be ashamed of, and they put up a great fight in all of those games.
Giannis exits the Olympics having averaged a brilliant 25.8 points, 6.3 boards, and 3.5 assists while shooting 67.8 from the field and boasting a true shooting percentage of 70. Remember, he missed the entirety of the playoffs due to injury and then had to help his team qualify for their first Olympics since 2008 and then get them through to the quarter-finals.
He should be incredibly proud of what they achieved, and the future for Greek basketball is bright being spearheaded by the two-time MVP.
The semi-finals for the Olympics take place on August 8, with hosts France taking on Germany, followed by the United States facing Nikola Jokic and Serbia.
Next for Giannis will likely be some rest period before heading into pre-season and training camp. With his injury late on in the season, the coaching staff will be wanting him to get some rest in before the season starts on October 22. General manager Jon Horst and head coach Doc Rivers were spotted in France with Giannis Antetokounmpo's mother as they cheered on their superstar.
Giannis and Greece can be proud of their efforts at the Olympics against the toughest of competition. Now, he can focus on chasing that second NBA title with the Bucks. The next time we see him on the court will be in a Milwaukee Bucks jersey.
Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks news and analysis this offseason.