The men's basketball tournament took center stage on July 30, with four games of pool play highlighted by names like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Victor Wembanyama and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Below is a breakdown of all the action.
Men's Group A: Spain 84, Greece 77
Giannis Antetokounmpo is doing all he can, but it still might not be enough to get Greece out of pool play. As was the case against Canada, the Greek Freak was a one-man wrecking ball in this one. And as was the case against Canada, it wasn't quite enough to get Greece over the hump.
Antetokounmpo dropped 27 points — 18 in the second half — on 12/17 shooting, rampaging to the rim almost at will despite dealing with three or four Spanish defenders on every possession. But his teammates didn't pick up the slack, shooting a combined 19-53, just 35.8%.
Spain, on the other hand, shot the lights out, going 15-of-31 from deep. The Spanish hit 7-of-9 threes in a huge second quarter, outscoring Greece 28-13 in the period to take a commanding double-digit lead into halftime.
From there, it was simply a matter of holding on. Giannis came alive in the second half almost through sheer force of will, even tying the game midway through the fourth quarter with a ferocious coast-to-coast slam.
Every time Greece made a push, though, Spain had an answer, usually from Rudy Fernandez (3-of-6 from deep) or Santi Aldama (a team-high 19 points). Spain immediately went on an 8-0 run following Giannis' slam, and while another Giannis three-point play cut the lead back down to three with less than a minute to play, Greece simply had too many empty possessions late — including some in which Giannis never even touched the ball.
The loss puts Greece in a tough spot to advance, although teams do still get one point for a loss. Greece sits in last place in Group A headed into the final round. A win against the Aussies on Friday is a must if Greece hopes to advance, and even that might not be enough.
Men's Group A: Canada 93, Australia 83
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets the headlines, and understandably so. But for the second straight game, the difference-maker for Canada was RJ Barrett.
Barrett dropped a game-high 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting, knocking down clutch 3s and burrowing his way to the rim to help the Canadians hold off a game Australia team and move to 2-0 in Group A.
The Aussies came out swinging in this one. Josh Giddey (19 points on 7-of-14 shooting, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) continues to thrive as a point-forward on the international stage. He combined with Jock Landale inside (16 points, 12 rebounds) to take the Dunkaroos to the half with a 49-45 lead.
In the end, though, Canada's ruthlessly efficient offense was too much. SGA scored 16, missing just two shots all day, and whenever Australia forced the ball out of his hands, Barrett was there to either hit a shot or get decisively downhill. The duo poured in 17 of Canada's 27 points in the third quarter, taking a two-point lead into the fourth.
Australia finally blinked in the final quarter, with as many turnovers (two) as points over the first six minutes of the period. Patty Mills was never able to get things going, shooting just 2-of-10 overall.
Canada is sitting pretty atop the group now, a point ahead of Spain and Australia while Greece hangs on by a thread.
MEN'S BASKETBALL: GROUP A STANDINGS |
||
---|---|---|
Points |
Differential | |
Canada | 4 | 17 |
Australia | 3 | 2 |
Spain | 3 | -5 |
Greece | 2 | -14 |
Men's Group B: France 94, Japan 90 (OT)
The game of the tournament so far gave us one of the wildest endings in Olympic basketball history. It looked like Japan had sealed the upset, up 84-80 with just 16 seconds left. And then Matthew Strazel hit a 3-pointer while getting fouled to force overtime:
Victor Wembanyama took over in the extra period with eight of France's 10 points, and France escaped with a most improbable win. The French will look to close out a perfect group play against Germany on Friday, Aug. 2, while Japan faces Brazil.
Men's Group B: Germany 86, Brazil 73
Germany came out on a tear against Brazil to go up 22-10 after the first quarter, but Brazil outscored Germany by 12 points in the second quarter for the teams to head to the locker room tied at 40 points each.
Franz Wagner had a nice game and a highlight-worthy play in the third when he went coast-to-coast to put Germany up 49-42.
Germany returned to form in the second half. Dennis Schroder closed out the third quarter with a nice layup for a nine-point lead, and he’d led all scorers with 20 points. It was more of the same in the fourth as Germany cruised to the 86-73 win.
Germany moved to 2-0 in Pool B play with a +33 point differential, the highest from all teams that have played two games.