Greece beat Estonia 90-69 in the last game of the group stage of EuroBasket 2022 on Thursday, continuing its unbeaten run in the tournament.
Greece is already prepping for next week’s knockout phase in Berlin where it will meet the Czech Republic.
“We respect the team of the Czech Republic. They have some quality players who have played at NBA level or Euroleague level,” Greece’s head coach Dimitris Itoudis said.
“This is a knockout game. We’re going to approach this game as a final,” he said. “Because that’s the tournament: you have five games, that’s the pool. You can construct something and we did this. Now it’s the finals.”
Greece had already secured the top, Estonia was out of the second phase, and their last game for Group C ended up being a one-man show for fifteen minutes.
That was the time that Giannis Antetokounmpo needed in order to score twenty-five points on 9/10 FG, as Greece cruised to the 90-69 win.
There was concern on the Greek bench when Giannis apparently twisted his ankle and ultimately played less than twenty minutes.
The Calathes x Giannis connection 🎯#EuroBasket x @hellenicbf 🇬🇷
📺 https://t.co/XA74VljBO4 pic.twitter.com/L4d8hZLBLT
— #EuroBasket 2022 (@EuroBasket) September 8, 2022
Greece third-favorite to win EuroBasket
On Tuesday, Greece defeated Ukraine in Group C of the EuroBasket with a final score of 99-79. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored forty-one points, a personal best in an international match.
The Milwaukee Bucks superstar also pulled down nine rebounds in twenty-seven minutes.
On Monday, Greece got the 93-77 win against Great Britain with Giannis Antetokounmpo rested.
On Saturday, Greece outlasted co-hosts Italy 85–81 in a compelling encounter in Milan.
Greece started its EuroBasket campaign with a hard-fought 89-85 win over Croatia in Milan last Friday.
There are twenty-four nations participating in EuroBasket, and they are split into four groups—Group A, Group B, Group C, and Group D. Each of those groups features six teams.
According to a vote of the International Basketball Federation, Greece is considered the third favorite to win the gold medal at Eurobasket behind France and Slovenia.
Greece garnered 15.2 percent of the votes while France and Slovenia are tied for first place with 30.4 percent. Serbia was fourth with 12.7 percent in the pre-game polls.
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