By Michalis Gioulenoglou / info@eurohoops.net
Limassol, Cyprus – Giannis Antetokounmpo, a former teammate during his spell with the Milwaukee Bucks, inspired 26-year-old Sandro Mamukelashvili to start EuroBasket 2025 with a successful effort opposite fellow NBA player Santi Aldama and Spain.
“I have so much respect for him, Aldama is an amazing player, but you know there was something to prove there and I got to come out there with the same intensity with Giannis, I know Giannis, he’s a beast, so I’m going to come out there locked in and hopefully I can come out on the top,” he said after dropping a game-high 19 points on Thursday.
The assignment versus the Freak is on Sunday, following a second Group C challenge against Italy on Saturday.
“You come in as an underdog and you know that nobody believes in you, so it’s just taking the right steps towards the next games, not being happy but not being satisfied, being happy that we played together and being ready for the next challenge because now I feel like other teams are going to respect us more, so we just got to make sure we play together and play hard,” mentioned Mamukelashvili.
“Spain is an amazing team. They’re reigning champs and coming out here, you’ve got to make sure you have a chip on your shoulder,” he focused on helping his side improve to 1-0 in the preliminary round of the tournament, “You ain’t going to get nothing easy. So coming out, we wanted to make sure we go for the 50/50 balls. We want to make sure we crash the offensive glass and most importantly, the bench guys did an amazing job coming in, handling the ball, making some amazing finishes to just kind of keep us in the game when everybody was out.”
The 26-year-old forward/center of the Toronto Raptors dealt with an injury in the opener of a five-game schedule at Limassol.
“It was 50-50 for him to play,” revealed Tornike Shengelia, “His ankle is bothering him, but he decided to be with us, it was his decision and we all see what he did.”
Photo Credit: FIBA