Skip to main content

Giannis Antetokounmpo's 41-point performance the most in a EuroBasket game since Dirk Nowitzki in 2001


 


Another day, another jaw-dropping performance from two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. This time, it came against Ukraine in the EuroBasket tournament, as he dropped 41 points en route to a 99-79 win for Greece. Antetokounmpo's 41 points were the most in a single EuroBasket game since Dirk Nowitzki dropped 43 points in the same tournament back in 2001 for Germany, putting Giannis in impressive company. 


It's just the latest standout performance from Giannis in what's been an impressive tournament so far for him and Greece, whose win over Ukraine clinched the top spot in Group C. From the start of the game, Antetokounmpo made his presence known, going on a 7-0 run of his own to open the contest. After sitting out Greece's previous win against Great Britain, the NBA champion came out well rested and asserted his size and strength in the paint. It was clear Ukraine was ill-equipped in matching up against Antetokounmpo, and he made sure to expose that every time he drove to the paint.


Giannis Antetokounmpo was 𝗨𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗣𝗣𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 on a career-best night for Greece 🇬🇷


🪣41 PTS

🏀 9 REB

🎯 13/18 FG%

📈 43 EFF


#EuroBasket





Greece certainly needed a dominant performance from Giannis, especially in the second half as Ukraine led 46-39 after two quarters. Antetokounmpo delivered with ease, putting up 10 points in the third quarter on a perfect 5-5 from the field. It was Giannis' two made free throws with just under five minutes left in the third quarter that helped Greece regain the lead. From that point on Greece never trailed again, and at one point jumped out to a 22-point lead late in the fourth quarter.


The win moved Greece to a perfect 4-0 in the tournament with one more game remaining in the group stage before advancing to the knockout round. With the way Giannis has played so far -- averaging a tournament-leading 31 points per game -- there's a good chance Greece could walk away champions of EuroBasket later this month. 



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Klay Thompson to sit out Warriors preseason games in Japan as Kerr says he needs more time to ramp-up

  Klay Thompson may have returned healthy to the Golden State Warriors last season, but the scars from his two missed seasons are still quite visible. The Warriors played their first of two preseason games against the Washington Wizards on Friday and will play another on Sunday, but Warriors coach Steve Kerr said that Thompson will not be playing at all during the trip to Japan. "Just feel more comfortable giving him a little more of a ramp up," Kerr said before Friday's victory over Washington. "He's just not quite ready to play at this point just based on where, you know, we're so early in camp. We just want to be safe and make sure he gets a good ramp-up before he plays in games." Typically, so little time to ramp up wouldn't be a problem for a veteran in a preseason context. The games tend to be so low-impact and demand so few minutes out of a team's best players that they can safely jog through them. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green played 1...

Shaquille O'Neal says Dennis Rodman was his worst teammate: 'He was a great player, but he made it hard'

  Shaquille O'Neal played for six franchises over a 20-year NBA career. That's a lot of teammates. Speaking on The Big Podcast with Shaq, the four-time champion and Hall of Famer revealed which one of those teammates was the worst.  "Worst teammate? Dennis Rodman," O'Neal said. "He was a great player, but he made it hard. Like when you try to corral the guys together and the people above you [are] letting this one guy do whatever he wants. So we had to be there an hour before the game. He'd come in fifteen minutes before the game eating chicken and rice. While the coaches are talking, he would jump in the shower. Cold shower. Come and give you 15-20 rebounds." O'Neal played with some characters in his time. We know about his beef with Kobe Bryant, who we know wasn't always the easiest teammate to get along with, though Shaq has long expressed regret over the way he and Bryant handled their relationship as young superstars, and eventually, he ...

From Deep: At long last, Nikola Jokic's Nuggets can envision getting to the top of the mountain

  Jamal Murray tore his ACL on April 12, 2021. Leading up to that night, he'd been playing at an All-NBA level for two months: In a 25-game stretch, Murray averaged 24.1 points on .509/.459/.935 shooting splits, 4.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists. He was even more efficient than he was in the bubble playoffs, and his defense had improved, too. Murray only got to play with Aaron Gordon, the Denver Nuggets' big trade-deadline addition, for five games. They won them all except the one in which Murray got injured. In 110 minutes, their new starting five scored slightly more efficiently than any iteration of the Kevin Durant-era death lineup in Golden State and defended like a top-five team. Two Nikola Jokic MVP awards later, Murray is back. So is Michael Porter Jr., who signed a five-year extension about a year ago and needed back surgery nine games into the 2020-21 season. The Nuggets remember how easily everything slid into place with Gordon in the mix. Newcomer Kentavious Caldwell-Pop...