PIRAEUS (Greece) - Just one step away now. Greece are through to the Final of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament they are hosting in Piraeus, after a rock solid performance against Luka Doncic and Slovenia in front of 11,998 home fans.
The hosts prevailed 96-68, and the biggest stars did their part. Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 13 points, and Greece were a +31 team in his 21 minutes of work, while Doncic got 21 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists in a losing effort.
Turning point
Greece's game against Egypt. That's when Giannis Antetokounmpo was given another day of rest, to afford him the chance to ease back into game rhythm after a period of nearly 90 days without playing five on five.
A fresh Greek Freak appeared from the initial tip against Slovenia on Saturday and started the game on an and-one play. He proceeded to pour in 7 of Greece's first 13 points, while Slovenia remained scoreless during that run.
The crucial stab was the moment Vasileios Toliopoulos knocked down a buzzer-beater from way beyond the arc, ending the first quarter with a gigantic 32-14 lead.
The crowd erupted, sounding like the roof is going to blow off on a hot Saturday afternoon in Piraeus, and it was clear that Greece were a step or two too fast for their opponents, both with the first and the second unit.
From that point on, Luka Doncic and his crew had to play the hunting game, and were losing a lot of energy trying to push the hosts in front of the ecstatic crowd in the Peace and Friendship Stadium.
The lead ballooned to +31, more than enough to prevent any kind of drama in the final stanza, despite a fine shooting day by Doncic.
After making 5 of his 9 three-pointers, Doncic took a seat with four minutes left on the game clock. A touching moment followed, with the crowd putting their hands together for Slovenia's superstar, and he raised two thumbs up towards the stands to acknowledge the mutual respect.
TCL Player of the Game
Thomas Walkup showed up and ran up the scoreboard until he had a team-high 19 points. His shots are falling, his confidence was always there, and it's easy to see why he's feeling at home in this arena.
Honorable mention goes out to his backcourt partners. Nick Calathes picked up 11 assists on the day, while Toliopoulos came off the bench for 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field.
Stats don't lie
If Slovenia were struggling to make shots, the key for Greece was to control the rebounds under their own basket, and that's exactly what they did. They allowed just 4 offensive rebounds, while also collecting 11 offensive rebounds of their own on the other end, generating a 14-3 edge in second-chance points.
Bottom line
Slovenia brought Aleksej Nikolic back in hope of getting a scoring punch, but it was clear he wasn't at 100 percent, and the only way they scored was through Gregor Hrovat's spot ups, Josh Nebo's dunks and tip ins, or Luka Doncic's individual quality.
Slovenia tried guarding Giannis one-on-one with Nebo, tried to do the same with Vlatko Cancar, but he never looked troubled no matter what coach Aleksander Sekulic threw at him.
Meanwhile, Greece approached the task of closing down Luka Doncic perfectly. Not only did they have capable defenders to slow him down in Kostas Papanikolaou and Thomas Walkup, it was the fact that Antetokounmpo played as a willing help defender that made the floor shrink so much.
The confidence level is off the charts now for Greece. They will play either Croatia or the Dominican Republic in the Final on Sunday.
They said
FIBA