GREECE STAY HUMBLE, FOCUSED

Antetokounmpo-led team game away from making it to Paris after downing Slovenia

- 

PIRAEUS - Slovenia and their star Luka Doncic will miss the Olympic Games after losing 96-68 in a qualifying semi-final to Giannis Antetokounmpo and hosts Greece on July 6 in Piraeus.

Doncic, a 2.0lm point guard, who led Slovenia to the last four in Tokyo in 2021 and steered the Dallas Mavericks to the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals in the recently concluded season, became a big-name absentee from the Olympic tournament, which tips off on July 27.

"Congrats to Greece. They played better than us," said Doncic.

"They have an amazing team, very well coached. They have Giannis, it's a lot, but also other players Very experienced team. They know how to play basketball."

Doncic was his team's top scorer with 21 points, but Slovenia always trailed after the Greeks raced away to lead 32-14 by the end of the first quarter.

"We wanted to get Luka out of the game," said Greece coach Vassilis Spanoulis. "We wanted to press him all over the court. All the lads did an excellent job."