On Friday, in Berlin, during the semi-finals of the European Championship, the Germans and the Spaniards will compete against each other for a spot in the championship game.
The fatal Eurobasket for Most Valuable Players occurred after Nikola Jokic’s Serbia and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece lost in the quarterfinals of Eurobasket-2022 on Tuesday in Berlin. They were eliminated by Germany (107-96), and Germany will play Spain, who lost to Finland, in the semi-finals on Friday.
The “Greek Freak’s” second unsportsmanlike foul, which occurred in the game’s final five minutes and resulted in his ejection, did not help the Greeks overcome their deficit of 96-82, even though he had already scored 31 points and been named NBA MVP twice before. However, Germany was already in the lead when the great player for the Milwaukee Bucks sent his arm into the face of the winger for the Alba Berlin team, Johannes Thiemann. And Giannis Antetokounmpo already appeared to be on his way back, just one lap after the other two-time MVP, Nikola Jokic, was tossed out of the round of 16 with Serbia.
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Greece was in the lead at the end of the third quarter but gave up a 20-1 (77-62) lead to its opponent when it went back into the locker room (61-57). She went through the group stage of the European Championship without losing a match, although she was eliminated in the quarterfinals for the third consecutive year. Already in the round of 16, when they faced the Czech Republic, the trio of Antetokounmpo brothers showed signs of feverishness (94-88). The Greek team wasn’t even close to being calm; in fact, they didn’t gain control of the game until the middle of the fourth quarter, when they overtook the Czechs (70-69).
Spain as usual
The Germans, who were pushed at home by a packed house of 14,000 people and were especially good at three-point shooting (17/31, 55%), were given many second chances by the Greeks, who were dominant on the rebounding side (32 versus 46). Such were the five shots taken from below the defensive line by Andreas Obst of Bayern Munich. For the first time since 2005, Germany advanced to the semifinals of a European Championship tournament. Luka Doncic and Slovenia were the only teams that could hold Germany in check during the group stage. Even with its all-time great Dirk Nowitzki on the court during the championship game and in the spectators during Tuesday’s game, the Nationalmannschaft was defeated.
Before they play in the championship game, on Friday they will face a formidable squad from Spain that was defeated by Finland (100-90) to get to the semifinals for the eleventh time in a row. Willy Hernangomez served as the team’s pivot while La Roja was going through a period of reconstruction following the retirements of the Pau brothers, Marc Gasol, and Sergio Rodriguez (27 pts). The player for the New Orleans Pelicans had his greatest performance ever in a major event when he was selected. Lauri Markkanen of Finland, who finished as the game’s leading scorer with 28 points, was unable to save his team from elimination despite having a nine-point advantage at the break of the game (52-43).