GIANNIS Antetokounmpo and Greece are finally on the board in the Paris Olympics after coming through in a must-win game against Australia, 77-71, Friday at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium.
Antetokounmpo pounded in 20 points in 8-of-11 shooting from the field to go along with seven rebounds, six assists, and two steals, and was flanked by Thomas Walkup and Dinos Mitoglou who scored 18 and 13, respectively, in Hellas' first win after three tries.
The Greeks needed to triumph over Australia to remain in contention in the Paris Games. With the much-welcome decision, they are locked into Group A's third seed no matter the result of the Canada-Spain matchup later.
Greece was actually looking like it was headed to a double-digit victory that would've even catapulted it to the second seed in the second quarter where it went on a 25-9 tear to turn a one-point edge into a 50-33 advantage close to halftime.
Australia still didn't make it easy for Greece
The Aussies, however, didn't quit and rallied to as close as two points, 69-71, with three minutes remaining before Antetokounmpo set up Vasilis Toliopoulos for a triple that jumpstarted their 6-2 finishing kick.
Hellas lost its first two games to Canada and then Spain before salvaging a win that improved their record to 1-2.
On the other hand, also-1-2 Australia missed out on an automatic advance into the quarterfinals and will now need to cheer on Canada against Spain.
Jock Landale topped the scoring column for them with 17 points and eight rebounds, as Patty Mills chimed in 13 markers and Dyson Daniels collected 11 points, eight boards, and six assists.
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