With Giannis fouled out, Greece couldn’t resist Brazil

With Giannis fouled out, Greece couldn’t resist Brazil

On Tuesday we had some interesting results at the World Cup. For me, a great result was the victory of Brazil over a Greece team fulfilled with big and good players, including NBA superstar, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Iit was just an accident or maybe Brazil deserved the win?

Greece started the game strongly and lead at the half-time by 10 points, 40-30. They managed to hold Brazil to only 4 field-goals attempts made in the second quarter. But in the third quarter, Brazil took control and won it with 26-13. In this quarter was Greece`s turn to make only 4 field-goals out of 14, with a 0-6 from the 3-point line. Then, the fourth quarter was very intense. In the final seconds, Brazil took the lead after a Varejao`s layup. Then, Giannis, that had foul trouble all the game, take another one on Leandro Barbosa and then was fouled out. Barbosa scored only one free-throw. In the last second, Sloukas was fouled and had a chance the even the score with 3 free-throws. He scored first two, but the third one and more important missed, leaving the score 79-78 for Brazil.

Greece had 16 turnovers,  and out of them the opponents scored 18 points. Brazil won the rebound battle, 37-34 and the assists as well, 23-19. But what was even more shocking, the South-America`s national team smashed the Greeks in the paint, scoring 46 points to only 28 from their opponent. The MVP of the match was Anderson Varejao, who ended with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists in 33 minutes. Leandro Barbosa with 13 points, Alex Garcia with 13 points and 6 assists and Marquinhos with 15 points were the other top performers for Brazil. For Greece, Printezis was the main scorer with 20 points, followed by Nick Calathes with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, Giannis with 13 points and 4 rebounds and Sloukas with 9 points and 11 assists.

It was a very intense match and Brazil won the tickets for the Second Stage in a well-deserved manner. They played like a team, they defended very well and took advantage of Greece`s mistakes. This match must be an alarm for Giannis and company because they must find their rhythm and play like a team before it’s not too late.

Photo credit: http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019

Bogdan Vasile Tirc

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