Thanks to the return of NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, Greece became the first team in Group C to secure a spot in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Round of 16 after a dominant 94-53 victory over Georgia.
The win in Limassol marked Greece’s third straight, although their advancement wasn’t official until Italy defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina later in the day.
While the game started tight for the first 13 minutes, Greece took control with a 12-2 spurt to build a 36-22 lead. Dinos Mitoglou contributed eight points during that key run. The lead grew to 17 points by halftime, and Greece never looked back in front of a crowd of 7,290 fans.
Antetokounmpo scores 27 for Greece
Antetokounmpo, who had rested during the previous game against Cyprus, was in top form, scoring 27 points along with 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. Mitoglou was also a major contributor with 17 points, including three three-pointers. For Georgia, Alexander Mamukelashvili led with 14 points.
Greece’s offense was highly efficient, hitting 14 of 25 three-pointers (56%) and dishing out an impressive 28 assists. Their defense was equally effective, holding Georgia to just 30% shooting from the field and a mere 4 of 22 (18%) from beyond the arc.
Greece has a perfect 3-0 record and will look to make it 4-0 on Tuesday against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Meanwhile, Georgia will face off against hosts Cyprus, hoping to improve their record to 2-2.
After the game, Vassilis Spanoullis, Greece Head Coach, said:
“I think we took another step forward today. We shared the ball with 28 assists and we could have had more. We are on the right path but we are just taking one game at a time. We have to improve during the tournament. We still have room to improve. We have things that I still want to improve.”
Tyler Dorsey, the Greece Guard also said:
“It was a great game for us, sharing the ball. Big was our rebounding because we were able to get into our transition. And that made our offense easier to move the ball and make the right play.”
“What made the game so easy is very easy: the defense. We had a lot of concentration from the team. We were very serious throughout,” Alexandros Samodurov, Greece’s Forward maintained.
Related: Giannis Antetokounmpo Hoists Greek Flag Ahead of EuroBasket
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