Greece overcomes Spain behind monster Giannis Antetokounmpo's performance / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Federación Española de Baloncesto Credit Federación Española de Baloncesto

Greek national team started their preparation games cycle with a victory over the Spanish national team behind 31 points from their star Giannis Antetokounmpo in front of around 15,000 fans at OAKA with a final score of 86-70 (31-13, 19-22, 13-22, 23-13).

Giannis Antetokounmpo was back on the floor at the start of the final quarter and immediately went to work by scoring 8 points, including a 3-pointer, in just over 3 minutes in a 10-2 Greek's run, after which they gained a 14-point advantage with 6:43 left in the game.

After that, Greece only increased their lead rest of the fourth quarter behind impressive Giannis' performance, who scored another 3-pointer to end up with 11 points in the final quarter.

Spain managed to cut Greece's lead to just 6 points before the final quarter, after Dario Birzuela's last-second lay-up to end the third. Birzuela scored all of his 8 points in the third quarter.

Giannis Antetokounmpo started the third quarter strongly by scoring 7 points in a span of just over three minutes. Spain answered with a 1-10 run when Giannis Antetokounmpo got benched, to reduce the deficit to 10 points after Yankuba Sima's 3-point play with 2:16 left in the quarter.

In the second quarter, Greece managed to keep most of its lead and headed to the locker room for the halftime break with a 15-point advantage (50-35).

Greece finished the first quarter even stronger than they started it. After a 12-0 run, marked by two Dimitrios Agravanis' 3-pointers, Greece gained an 18-point advantage (28-10) with 1:17 left in the quarter.

Greece started the game better right out of the game and had an 8-point lead (16-8) in the middle of the first quarter, after Tyler Dorsey's 3-pointer.

It was Lorenzo Brown's, who was recently naturalized, debut with the Spanish national team. Brown ended up with 7 points, 2 assists, and 2 steals.

Spain led Greece 32-12 across all competitions until tonight. It was the first game held in Greece between them after 20 years (Jan. 26, 2002).

Last head-to-head game to date: Spain beat Greece 73-71 on Sept. 15, 2015 at EuroBasket quarters In Lille, France.

Kostas Sloukas and Georgios Papagiannis were out for Greece, while Spain still did not have Sergio Llull and Usman Garuba.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led Greece with 31 points (9/10 2PT, 2/3 3PT, 7/10 FT), 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal in over 20 minutes of play.

For Spain Willy Hernangomez finished with 15 points (5/11 2PT, 5/6 FT), 5 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal in over 20 minutes of play.

Greece: Giannis Antetokounmpo 31 (10 REB), Tyler Dorsey 11 (4 AST), Dimitrios Agravanis 9, Nick Calathes 7 (4 AST);

Spain: Willy Hernangomez 15 (5 REB), Jaime Pradilla 10, Dario Birzuela 8, Sebastian Saiz 8.

Giannis Antetokounmpo's breakdown:

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