Greece wins over Croatia and gets into the Olympics for the first time in 16 years thanks to Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Now the long wait is over! Greece is going to the Olympics for the first time in sixteen years. Greece b𝖊at Croatia 80–69 in the final of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024, which was held in Piraeus, Greece. There were 11,810 excited fans at the Peace and Friendship Stadium.

Giannis Antetokounmpo will be making his first showing at the Olympics, which is another big deal for this win. His addition adds another great name to a list of qualified teams and players that was already very strong.

The Turning Point

At the break, Greece had a six-point lead over Croatia. At the start of the third quarter, both teams continued to trade baskets. As Croatia closed the gap to four points in the middle of the third, Vasilis Spanoulis, the coach, made the very important choice to bring on Nick Calathes.

In the first half, Calathes helped pass the ball around by dishing out six assists. In the third quarter, he changed gears and scored eleven points in six and a half minutes. Greece now has a 60–50 lead after this push.

Once that happened, Greece had a 14-point lead in the game. Even though Croatia made several tries to turn the game around in the last quarter, they were still 10 points behind. Greece ended up with an overall score of 15–13 against teams from other European countries.