Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 23 points as Greece eliminated Croatia and advances to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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The final four spots for men’s basketball at the Paris Olympics were determined by Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. Greece, Brazil, Spain and Puerto Rico have punched their tickets to Paris.
Greece 80, Croatia 69
Giannis Antetokounmpo is now an Olympian.
Antetokounmpo is heading to the Olympics for the first time, after he scored 23 points and Greece held off Croatia 80-69 on Sunday in one of the four men’s basketball qualifying tournament finals being held to determine the final spots in the 12-team field for the Paris Games.
What it means for Giannis #FIBAOQT pic.twitter.com/rpacKTH6PA
— FIBA (@FIBA) July 7, 2024
Georgios Papagiannis scored 19 for Greece, which got 14 from Nick Calathes and earned an Olympic berth for the first time since 2008.
Ivica Zubac had 19 points and 13 rebounds for Croatia, which got 15 points apiece from Mateo Dreznjak and Mario Hezonja and 14 from Dario Saric.
Greece will be placed in Group A for the Paris Games, facing Australia, Canada and either Spain or Bahamas in the opening stage.
Already having qualified for the Paris field: the four-time defending gold medalist U.S., France, Germany, Japan, Serbia, South Sudan, Canada and Australia. France qualified as the host nation; the other seven teams on that list qualified based on their finishes at the World Cup last summer.
Following the World Cup, 24 teams were left to compete for the final four slots. They were decided in these winner-take-all qualifiers that started last week. Brazil grabbed the first of those spots Sunday, then Greece followed.
The last two spots in the 12-team Olympic field will be decided later Sunday: Bahamas visits Spain and Lithuania visits Puerto Rico, with the winners of those contests headed to Paris as well.
Spain 86, Bahamas 78
Rudy Fernandez is going to the Olympics for the sixth time, a first for any men’s basketball player. And Spain had to dig deep to get him there.
Spain earned its seventh consecutive Olympic berth after holding off the Bahamas 86-78 at Valencia, Spain.
Lorenzo Brown had 18 points for Spain, which got 14 from Willy Hernangomez, 12 from Santiago Aldama and 10 from Usman Garuba.
Buddy Hield led the Bahamas with 19 points. Deandre Ayton scored 17, Eric Gordon had 15 and Valdez Edgecombe Jr. finished with 12.
Like Greece, Spain is in Group A for the opening stage of games in Paris alongside Australia and Canada.
Brazil 94, Latvia 69
At Riga, Latvia, Brazil used a 19-0 run over the final 3:21 of the first quarter to set the tone in what became a
Bruno Caboclo led Brazil with 21 points and Leo Meindl added 20. Caboclo made a 65-foot 3-pointer to end the first quarter — one in which Brazil was 8 for 8 from beyond the arc to take a 34-11 lead and stun the home crowd.
Rihards Lomazs scored 15 for Latvia, which got 14 apiece from Rolands Smits and Arturs Zagars.
Brazil will be placed in Group B for the Olympics, with games against France (July 27), Germany (July 30) and Japan (Aug. 2) in the opening stage.
Puerto Rico 79, Lithuania 68
For the first time since 2004, Puerto Rico is headed to the Olympics.
At San Juan, the hosts got 23 points from Jose Alvarado, 18 points from Tremont Waters and topped Lithuania 79-68 to claim the 12th and final spot in the field for the Paris Games.
Puerto Rico will be slotted into group play in France with Serbia, South Sudan and the U.S.
Rokas Jokubaitis scored 16 points and Domantas Sabonis scored 10 for Lithuania.
