Finally, Giannis Antetokounmpo showed his level with the national team
Two days ago, the Greek Freak made a stunning performance in the friendly game against Spain. The World Cup champions, now coming with a much weaker roster had no answer against Greece, losing by a significant margin: 86-70. Giannis scored 31 points, with a high percentage in only 20 minutes. Huge, yes, but this is what we all expected from him.
Giannis was a disappointment for me and many others the last time he played with the national team. In 2014 at the FIBA World Cup, he had only 6.3 points per game in 6 encounters, adding 4 rebounds in 15 minutes. Those stats were simply mediocre but Giannis was a very young guy so I expected the next chapter. And the next international chapter came in 2019 when the Greek Freek played again at the FIBA World Cup, this time seeing more minutes per game (25). His stats were much better: 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game but still I expected more from the athletic guy that scored 30 per game in the most powerful league on the planet, the NBA.
At that time I wrote an article criticizing Giannis for his low stats. You can read this article here: https://brainbasketball.net/giannis-antetokounmpo-far-from-expectation-at-the-fiba-world-cup/
But now, I think that Gianni’s time has come. He is a mature player and he seems ready to assume the crucial role the fans always expected from him. The fact that he won the NBA title and the MVP in the past years made him more confident. Playing in the same team with his brothers for the Greek national team is helping also a lot. I expect Greece to be a title contender for the Eurobasket if they will have the entire roster available.
Image credit: FIBA
The article was written by Gratian Cormos, a Romanian journalist, book writer, life coach and mentor currently living in Barcelona, Spain.
If you are interested in collaborating with his website brainbasketball.net, in order to publish articles, interviews or other features related to basketball, contact Gratian Cormos by Whatsapp or Telegram at this Spanish number: +34 612414486.
