He led the team to chase down the points until he was only 3 points behind, and he missed the three-point shot and lost the opportunity to equalize. The Greece men's basketball team has lost two games in a row and is at the bottom of the group of death. With the last game left, the Greece men's basketball team must beat the Australia men's basketball team to have a chance to qualify, and then it depends on the specific qualification.
He tried his best, and he shot 12-of-17 from the field and 3-of-5 from the free-throw line to score 27 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. In the first game, he had 34 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists.
He averaged 30.5 points per game to rank first in the scoring list of this Olympic Games, and his efficiency value of 31.5 was also ranked first in the Paris Olympics, but his team was hard to find.
Brother Alphabet was too difficult, only Tolyopoulos scored double-doubles around him in this game, and only two of the Greece team scored double-doubles. The Spain men's basketball team has four players scoring in double figures.
Objectively speaking, the Greece men's basketball team and the Spain men's basketball team have passed their prime, but the Greece men's basketball team is more serious. Three players with NBA experience, Karahis, Papani Nicolaou and Papayannis, are the main helpers of Antetokounmpo. However, Karahis, who is 35 years old, has scored a total of 11 points in the two games. Papani Gurau is 34 years old, and his performances are remarkable. Papayannis has been in a slump of form, scoring just eight points from two games.
Greece's naturalized American guard Thomas · Wokamp did not play his due role at the Olympics, scoring just 1 of 7 in the first game, 2 of 6 in the second and just 10 points in the two games.
Wokamp is a big name in Europe, helping Olympiacos to the Greece league title in back-to-back seasons in 2021-22 and 2022-23, including being crowned Finals MVP in 2022-23. In addition, he was crowned the best defensive player in the Champions League for the 2023-24 season.
It's a pity that the 31-year-old defender has been sluggish in the Olympic arena. In contrast, Spain's naturalized Lorenzo · Brown worked better, scoring 7 points and 10 assists in this game, linking up the Spain offense well, while Wokap only had 4 assists. If the Greece men's basketball team can naturalize a small guard with excellent independent offensive ability, then the pressure on Brother Alphabet can be reduced. It's a pity that Wokap can't relieve the pressure on Brother Alphabet.
After the game, Spain men's basketball coach Scarioro admitted that the team was encircling Brother Alphabet. "The basic idea is to defend Giannis as a team, but choose when you need to have a second defender and when you don't. When the ball gets out of his hands, we have to choose what to do, whether it's blocking, rotating, not rotating, or standing behind, which is the hardest part for the players. Of course, open transitions, quick rebounds, high lobs, these are all hard to stop. But in the half-time defense we did very well. Scarioro said.
Brother Alphabet's slam dunk in the final quarter once tied the score, but the Spain men's basketball team regained the lead, Brother Alphabet played 2+1 to chase only 3 points behind, and the other players of the Greece men's basketball team did not dare to shoot, and finally Brother Alphabet had to shoot three points for the first time in the game and did not hit. The Greece men's basketball team, which has lost two consecutive games, is in a desperate situation, and only by beating the Australia men's basketball team in the next game can there be a glimmer of hope.