This past week has seen the world's best basketball players face-off prior to the Olympics in Paris, which kicks off this Saturday, July 27. Milwaukee Bucks' two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece were blown out 94-72 by Serbia and current MVP Nikola Jokic on Monday.
Serbia is one of the teams favored to challenge for a medal behind the lead of Jokic and a supporting cast that includes the Atlanta Hawks' Bogdan Bogdanovic, Miami Heat's Nikola Jovic and a plethora of Eurobasket talent.
Antetokoumpo finished with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists on 58 percent shooting in 25 minutes. Greece struggled to get anything going, with Kostas Panaikolaou being the only other player to put up double-digit points. They stormed through the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Slovenia and Croatia during the Olympic Qualifiers earlier this month, but since then, they scraped past Puerto Rico and then were heavily beaten by Serbia.
Jokic finished with 16 points, eight boards and six assists, while Bogdanovic led the scoring with 19 points. Three other Serbian players hit double digits points as they stormed past Greece, putting them in a good place to take on USA in their first game at the Olympics.
Having led his side to the Olympics, Giannis has been named the flagbearer for Greece, which is one of the most prestigious honors in all of sports. It is the first time Greece will be competing in Olympic basketball since 2008, and Giannis will become the first black flagbearer for Greece as he and race walker Antigoni Ntrismpioti will lead their nation in Paris.
Giannis leads Greece in Olympics as the take on the 'Group of Death'
With warm-ups over, everyone heads to Paris, where Greece takes on the 'Group of Death.' Having fought through a tough qualifying section, Giannis will now take on a plethora of NBA talent and experienced international teams that will only fancy their chances of going far in the Olympics.
Their start couldn't be more difficult as they take on one of the favorites in Canada on July 27 at 2 p.m. CST. Canada is led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray, one of the best international backcourts heading to France. Greece then takes on another team that progressed via qualifiers in Spain on July 30 at 4 a.m. CST. The final group game is against Australia and former Buck Joe Ingles and Matthew Dellavedova on August 2 at 6:30 a.m. CST.
Looking through the rosters, it is a wide-open group, but Greece and Spain are likely to be the two outsiders due to their lack of NBA talent. There are three groups of four teams, with the top two going through to the quarterfinals and the two best third-placed teams also progressing.
These final warm-up games have shown that anything could happen in Paris. Team USA is the clear favorite to take home the gold medal, but a 101-100 win over South Sudan and a 92-88 win over Germany have shown that the games may be closer than many expect.
The unfortunate news for the Bucks is that Kostas Antetokounmpo will miss the Olympics with a knee injury. He alongside the rest of his brothers will likely be in Paris cheering on their brother as he leads his country on the court and during the Opening Ceremony.
Make sure to stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks news this off-season.