PARIS — Greece edged Australia 77-71 in Group A to remain in contention at the Olympic men’s basketball competition on Friday as Brazil beat Japan 102-84 to secure third place in Group B in their bid to reach the quarterfinals in the final round of games.
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was prolific as usual, scoring 20 points with seven rebounds and six assists to grab Greece’s first win in the pool stage.
Antetokounmpo was helped by Dinos Mitoglou and Thomas Walkup, who finished with a combined 31 points.
The victory keeps Greece in contention for a place in the quarterfinals along with the Aussies. But both teams are awaiting results of Friday’s game between Canada, already qualified for the next round, and Spain.
The top eight teams in the group stage from the combined ranking qualify for the quarterfinals.
Brazil’s win over Japan secure third place in Group B, while Germany and France, who meet later on Friday, have already booked places in the last eight.
The hero for the ‘Verde-Amarela’ was forward Bruno Caboclo, who scored an impressive 33 points and made 17 rebounds.
“It’s the biggest stage of basketball,” Caboclo told reporters. “(Being) in the national team is bigger than NBA or anything. The Olympics are the biggest in the world.
“Every athlete wants to be here, at least one time. We were able to accomplish that.
“Hopefully, we can go to the quarter-finals. And from there, we have another goal – to go to the semifinals,” he added.
–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media
