Giannis Antetokounmpo’s first appearance on the Men’s National Team at the Acropolis tournament he energized his teammates and the representative group crushed by 102-75 the Bahamas at SEFconquering for the 19th time with 2/2 victories the top of the Acropolis tournament and “overflowing” optimism before the Pre-Olympic tournament (2-7/7), where he will claim qualification for the Paris Games.
In the “blue and white” dress rehearsal before the “battle” for participation in the Olympic Games, Vassilis Spanoulis’ team redeemed (again) the defense, but this time it also unfolded its virtues in fast basketball with excellent partnerships, as a result of. .. appetite from Nick Calathes and Thomas Walkup in the creative department, where they distinguished themselves with 11 and 9 assists, respectively. The Bahamas, of course, without NBA players Eric Gordon and Deandre Ayton, did not pose a threat to the team, but it is important that the representative group once again showed durability, offensive pluralism and faith in Vassilis Spanoulis’ plan .
With a slight sprain, which does not inspire concern at first, Giannoulis Larentzakis left, while the attack was led by Dinos Mitoglou with 18 points with a success rate for a seminar (2/2 two points, 2/2 three points, 8/ 9 shots). The Greek Freak showed a lot of energy in the 15 minutes he was on the court, finishing the game with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal, while Kostas Papanikolaou also stopped at 14.
From the Bahamas, AJ Storr stood out with 14 points.
The rooms: 15-28, 34-46, 50-77, 75-102
With Kalathis “feeding” Antetokounmpo non-stop and the Milwaukee Bucks star “knocking down” the opposing basketball with his spikes, the national team escaped with… good night with 13-8 after 4 minutes, while even when sitting on the bench from Giannis, the baton passed to Toliopoulos-Mitoglou, who gave the “blue and whites” a double-digit difference (25-15 after 9 minutes) and helped them close the quarter at +13 (28-15).
With the defense “suffocating” the opponents and Giannis without an opponent, the representative group did not feel threatened even in the second half and headed to the locker room at +12 (46-34), against the Bahamas who tried in vain to shoot from distance (2/18 3 points).
In the third period, the national team stepped on the accelerator and with Kalathis-Antetokounmpo in the role of creators and Mitoglou-Papanikolou in that of executors, the “blue and whites” increased the difference to +27 (77-50 at 30′) and never looked back…
REFEREES: Papapetrou, Tsarouha, Maglogiannis
The compositions:
BAHAMAS (Chris DeMarco): Bridgewater 3 (1), Miller 2, Storr 14 (2), Hield 9 (1), Etzecombe 13, Freeman 5 (1), Nairn 4, Smith 4, Albury 3 (1), Hunter 12 (2), Barrows 6.
HELLOS (Vasilis Spanoulis): Walkap 6 (2), Larentzakis 8 (2), Moraitis 3 (1), Toliopoulos 9 (2) Kalathis 7 (11 a.), Kalaitzakis 6, Papagiannis 11 (1), Charalambopoulos 3, Papanikolaou 14 (2), Antetokounmpo G. 14, Antetokounmpo K. 3, Mitoglou 18 (2).
Source: RES-MPE