Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece and Luka Doncic’s Slovenia will meet on Saturday in the semi-finals of the Olympic qualifying tournament (OQT) played in Piraeus (Greece), on the outskirts of Athens.
Beaten by Croatia on Tuesday (108-92), the Slovenians corrected their aim on Thursday against New Zealand (104-78) but by an insufficient margin to finish first in their group and avoid the Greeks, who have the home advantage, in the semi-finals.
Vassilis Spanoulis’ players remain undefeated after beating Egypt (93-71). They had dominated the Dominican Republic on Wednesday (109-82). The other semi-final will pit Croatia against the Dominican Republic. The winner of the final will qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic tournament and will join the terrible Group A with Canada, Australia and another qualifier, from the TQO in Valencia (Spain) of which the Roja is the favorite.
New triple double for Luka Doncic
After 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists on Tuesday, Luka Doncic, NBA finalist with Dallas, delivered a second “triple double” on Thursday against the “Tall Blacks” (36 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists)?
But he missed a final three-pointer that would have allowed Slovenia to pocket first place in their group on points difference, to the detriment of Croatia and thus avoid the clash with Greece in the semi-finals.
The other NBA superstar of this TQO in Piraeus, double MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee) was rested on Thursday against Egypt. The day before, he dominated the first match against the Dominican Republic with 32 points at 100% shooting in only 18 minutes of play.
Three other Olympic tickets are awarded this week. In the Valencia OQT, Spain will face Finland, narrow winner over Poland (89-88), in the semi-finals on Saturday, while the Bahamas of NBA players Deandre Ayton (Portland), Eric Gordon (Philadelphia) and Buddy Hield (ex-Philadelphia, leaving for Golden State) will face Lebanon, which qualified on Thursday by winning against Angola (74-70).
Cameroon surprises Brazil and advances to the semi-finals
In the Riga (Latvia) Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the winner of which will join France’s group in Villeneuve-d’Ascq (North) with Germany and Japan, the host country will play against Cameroon’s Williams Narace from Le Mans, winner of Brazil on Thursday (77-74), which condemned Montenegro. Brazil will face the Philippines, beaten by Georgia (96-94) but qualified thanks to their surprise victory over Latvia on Wednesday (89-80).
The group stage of the fourth WQT, played in San Juan (Puerto Rico), will be concluded on the night of Thursday to Friday. Ivory Coast faces Mexico and Italy challenges Puerto Rico at home. With two victories, Lithuania has already qualified for the semi-finals. It will face the defeated team of Italy-Puerto Rico. The winner will face the winner of Mexico-Ivory Coast.
