Greece also won the fifth and final preliminary round game at the European Basketball Championship. The Czech Republic made it through to the round of 16 at the last minute with a win against Israel.
The highly traded Greeks also clearly won the fifth preliminary round game in Milan on Thursday evening (September 8th, 2022) with 90:69 against Estonia.
Antetokounmpo injured from the field
Greece’s superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo was once again the top scorer with 31 points, but had to end the game prematurely: Antetokounmpo twisted his ankle and went into the dressing room prematurely. The Greek association said in a first statement that the man from the Milwaukee Bucks suffered a minor ankle sprain. Further investigations have been announced, but coach Dimitris Itoudis has already given the Greek media the all-clear that “everything is okay” with his star player.
The Czech Republic sends Israel home
Greece were previously confirmed as Group C winners and now face the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals. The Czechs, co-hosts of the European Championship with the preliminary round group in Prague, defeated Israel 88:77 in front of 12,000 fans in the “final” for the last quarter-final ticket in group D and pushed the Israelis out of fourth place.
Vojtech Hruban was the Czechs’ best man with 25 points, including five of six successful three-pointer attempts, while NBA veteran Tomas Satoransky had 14 points and eleven assists.