By Michalis Gioulenoglou/ info@eurohoops.net
Limassol, Cyprus – Giannis Antetokounmpo had 27 points on 9/11 FG, eight rebounds, and four assists in 25 minutes of action as Greece got an easy 94-53 win over Georgia, moving to 3-0 in Group C.
This is not a surprise, since Georgia coach Aleksandar Džikić had already implied that his team would “skip” this game to focus on more crucial upcoming contests.
As he repeated post-game: “We had two options, to go to what’s 100% for us, or to try to keep ourselves healthy for the last two games. We decided to follow the second option. It was my decision, and we know what our goal is. We don’t like it, my players don’t like it, but today it was the smart thing to do”.
Goga Bitadze wasn’t used; captain Toko Shengelia, who was expected not to be used, started the game and played for less than four minutes, and Sandro Mamukelashvili, with 14 points, was the top scorer of the losing side.
Greece led with a double score (64-32) after 25 minutes of play, and the game was prematurely over. Still, coach Vassilis Spanoulis’ players kept pushing until the end.
Dinos Mitoglou also had a great outing for the winners with 17 points on 6/7 FG, and notoriously mediocre in three-point shooting Greeks finished the game with 14 made threes in 25 attempts, with Giannis making one of them.
Photo credit: FIBA