Giannis Antetokounmpo is one win away from clinching his first Olympic appearance. On Saturday, at home in Piraeus, Antetokounmpo and Greece eliminated Luka Doncic and Slovenia in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament semifinals.
Antetokounmpo only needed to play 21 minutes in the 96-68 victory, finishing with 13 points on 6-for-12 shooting. Thomas Walkup had a team-high 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting, and Vasileios Toliopoulos added 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting, including 4-for-4 from deep.
Doncic scored 21 points on 7-for-14 shooting in the loss, with seven rebounds, five assists and 10 turnovers in 34 minutes. He shot 5 for 9 from deep, but just 2 for 6 from the free-throw line. Slovenia collectively struggled to deal with the double-teams that Greece sent at Doncic; big man Josh Nebo had 17 points on 8-for-9 shooting, but the rest of Doncic’s teammates scored a combined 30 points on 8-for-31 shooting.
Greece started the game on a 13-0 run and led by as many as 31 points. It was a wire-to-wire win; they dominated the offensive glass and in transition.
Kostas Antetokounmpo, Giannis’ younger brother, missed the game after hurting his knee in Greece’s victory against Egypt on Thursday.
In the finals on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, Greece will face the winner of Saturday’s other semifinals matchup: Croatia vs. Dominican Republic. A spot in the Paris Olympics will be on the line.
Greece was the second team to advance to the finals of an OQT. Earlier Saturday, Brazil beat the Philippines 71-60 in Riga, Latvia, where they will face either the home country or Cameroon on Sunday.
