Superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Greek national team started the European Basketball Championship with a win, but made life difficult for themselves.
The team around the NBA’s two-time most valuable player (MVP) won in Milan against Croatia 89:85 (46:30) and successfully started the title hunt. In doing so, Greece almost gambled away a whopping lead.
Co-favorite Serbia around Nikola Jokic, MVP of the NBA in the past two years, started with an ultimately clear victory. In the end, Jokic and Co. easily won 100:76 (51:38) in Prague against the outsiders Netherlands.
The Greeks were already leading by 17 points in the third quarter, but allowed Croatia to gain two points again. Led by Antetokounmpo, Hellas got the curve in the closing stages.
The Milwaukee Bucks forward played well with 27 points and 11 rebounds. US-born Tyler Dorsey, future teammate of Maxi Kleber at the Dallas Mavericks, also recorded 27 points.
Jaleen Smith from Alba Berlin was the top scorer for the Croatians with 22 points. NBA professional Bojan Bogdanovic from the Utah Jazz came up with 19 points.
Serbian leader Jokic was his team’s most successful thrower with 19 points, while Worthy de Jong had a great day with 28 points for the Netherlands.