With 19 points from Thomas Walkup and 13 from Giannis Antetokounmpo in 21 minutes, Greece advanced to the semifinals of the Olympic qualification competition, eliminating Luka Doncic and Slovenia 96-68 on Saturday. Greece is one win away from the Paris Games.
The game in Piraeus, Greece, saw Doncic finish with 21 points. It was the first time the two NBA superstars met one other while playing for their senior national teams.
The men’s basketball competition was holding eight semifinals to decide the remaining four spots that would go to the Paris Games.
Vasileios Toliopoulos scored 14 more points for Greece, which advances to Sunday’s Greece tournament final against the winners of the Dominican Republic and Croatia. The victor earns a ticket to the Olympics in Paris.
There are other semifinal matches happening on Saturday at competitions in Puerto Rico, Latvia, and Spain.
In the Dallas Mavericks’ five-game NBA Finals loss to the Boston Celtics, Doncic persevered despite injuries. In Slovenia’s opening two qualification matches, he averaged 31 points. However, he struggled against Greece’s formidable front line on Saturday.
Greece had scored 13 points in a row and led 32–14 at the end of the first quarter, putting Slovenia under early pressure.
Greece led by 23 points at the half, but Slovenia rallied late to cut the deficit to 47–33 at the half.
Greece got off to a fast start in the third quarter as well, embarking on an 11-3 run to close the gap and carry a 16-point lead into the fourth.
Slovenia’s field goal percentage throughout the game was barely 43% (23 of 54). That contrasted with Greece’s 54% (34 of 70), which also had a 38–25 rebounding advantage.