FIBA World Cup: Greeks, Czechs advance to 2nd round; Day 6 takeaways

Greece bounces back from tough loss to advance

At Nanjing, the fans finally got to see what they came for — an MVP performance from Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Milwaukee Bucks superstar was limited to just one shot in the fourth quarter of Greece’s 79-78 loss to Brazil on Tuesday and took Thursday’s matchup with New Zealand by the horns, scoring 24 points with 10 rebounds and six assists as Greece moved to the second round with a 103-97 win.

His aggressiveness put the Tall Blacks in foul trouble early and often, as Antetokounmpo was 11-for-15 at the foul line.

New Zealand’s bigs were unable to contain the much faster player, with Rob Loe fouling out in 27 minutes, while Isaac Fotu was limited to just 16 minutes and finished with four fouls. Tohi Smith-Milner picked up four personals in just 15 minutes as well.

But Corey Webster kept New Zealand in the game as they battled back from 13 points down, but never got closer than five in the fourth quarter.

Webster finished with 31 points, hitting 7-of-12 from deep, while captain Tom Abercrombie broke out of his slump with 18 points and six rebounds. Fotu was effective when he was on the floor, scoring 15 points on 6-of-6 shooting.

Tai Webster had 17 points for the Tall Blacks and Shea Ili dished out nine assists.

Ioannis Papapetrou gave Greece a big lift with his outside shooting, going 4-for-6 from 3-point range and finishing with 16 points. Nick Calathes added 14 points and three steals, while Kostas Sloukas had seven assists before fouling out.

Greece shot 50 percent (32-for-64) overall and was 12-for-30 (40 percent) from long range, while going 27-for-37 at the line. That was the difference, as New Zealand also shot well, hitting 53 percent overall (35-for-66) and 12-of-28 (42.9 percent) from deep.

Just a 15-for-25 night at the foul line left them at a minus-12 from the stripe and that was the difference.

Montenegro battled with Brazil in the first game of the day, but the Brazilians were able to finish group play at 3-0 with an 84-73 victory. Montenegro opted to play Nikola Vucevic of the Orlando Magic just 13 minutes.

That allowed Cristiano Felicio of the Chicago Bulls to feast inside.  He finished with 14 points on 7-of-7 shooting and had eight boards — five on the offensive end — as Brazil held a 17-8 advantage in second-chance points.

Marcelo Huertas led Brazil with 16 points and had six assists and Marquinhos Sousa finished with 13 points.

Montenegro, which went 0-3 in the group stage, was led by Derek Needham’s 16 points and 10 assists. Vucevic had eight points and six rebounds in his brief stint.

New Zealand (1-2) and Montenegro (0-3) now head to classification round play in Group M at Dongguan beginning Saturday.