PARIS — Soon as his first Olympics ended, Giannis Antetokounmpo did what he hadn’t for most of the morning. He walked over and sat down, grabbing a chair on the bench.
This was a notable change. Even in the six minutes or so in which he wasn’t on the court during Greece’s 76-63 loss to Germany on Tuesday in the Olympic quarterfinals, Antetokounmpo hardly sat on that bench. He’d stand behind the bench. Evidently, it’s not easy to sit while carrying a team – and national hopes – on your back.
To call Greece a one-man basketball team during these Paris Games wouldn’t be accurate, but it also wouldn’t be misguided.
In the 29-year-old Milwaukee Bucks star and two-time NBA MVP, the Greek team had a global superstar and one of the best players at these Olympics. Antetokounmpo led the tournament in scoring during group play, averaging 27 points, five more than anyone else. He’d drawn 28 fouls, 10 more than anyone else. He’d sank more buckets, too, making a sporty 68.9% of his 15 attempts per game.
‘(He) was more than half of the scouting report,’ Germany’s Franz Wagner said.
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On Tuesday, Antetokounmpo scored a game-high 22 points, but it wasn’t enough. Germany overcame a slow start and early 18-6 deficit to pull away after halftime.
‘He’s a great player. It takes all five on the court to try to stop him,’ the Orlando Magic’s Wagner said of Antetokounmpo. ‘But I thought we did a good job, especially in the second half, of at least trying to contain him.’
Afterward, Antetokounmpo bypassed the media interview zone, opting to stay quiet publicly. He’d done that after earlier losses at these Paris Games, speaking after a lone win over Australia that allowed Greece to reach the quarterfinal round in its first Olympics men’s basketball tournament since 2008.
Unlike other European countries that have stepped up to seriously challenge the United States in this sport, Greece isn’t yet to that level.
Even going 1-3 in these Olympics was a big step, and Greece was playing Tuesday at Bercy Arena in large part because of its star player, even as it didn’t want to portray it that way.
‘Giannis is very proud – for him and for the team and for his country,’ Greece coach Vassilis Spanoulis said. ‘But our team is more than Giannis. Our team is a great national team. We are very blessed that we have Giannis here, but I’m very blessed that we have all the team here.’
It wasn’t just Germany’s scouting report, though, that clearly focused on Antetokounmpo. He faced a lot of double-and-triple teams while scoring all those Olympics points. After Greece’s previous game, Spanoulis took aim at officials for permitting so much contact against his star.
‘Giannis, they beat him more than every player that I see in this Olympic tournament,’ Spanoulis told reporters at the time. ‘If you see that they play one player like Giannis, come and tell me, and I will say sorry. … To hack him and to play him like over the limit of the foul and to push him, this is not basketball. Sorry, this is some other sport.’
Tuesday made for a disappointing finish, but it had been ‘a great experience,’ said Antetokounmpo, who was only 13 the last time Greece played men’s basketball in an Olympics.
This time, after the team qualified for the Paris Games, he was asked to carry the Greece flag during the opening ceremonies.
‘It was the biggest assignment I have ever done in my life,’ he told reporters after the Australia game. ‘I know my father is watching from heaven and he’s dancing about this. I might win another championship, but I might never carry the flag again. …
‘I’m happy that I’m here, I don’t take it for granted. I will enjoy it to the fullest because you never know if you’re going to have this opportunity again. It took us 16 years to be here, so in 16 years, I’ll be how old? I’ll be 45 years old.’
Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@gannett.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.
