Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds as Greece beat Australia 77-71 on Friday, keeping alive its hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals of men’s Olympic basketball.
Thomas Walkup added 18 points for Greece. Jock Landale led Australia with 17.
“We didn’t want to leave this tournament without getting a win,” Antetokounmpo said. “We felt like we had a very good team to not get a win. And we competed. We fought for all three games. And I think this was a game that we had to fight for until the end.”
The top two teams in each group automatically qualify for the round of eight. The last two places for the next round are awarded to the best teams that finished third in their groups.
Greece started 0-2 in Group A and needed to beat Australia by 10 points or more and for Canada to beat Spain to secure their place in the knockout round, which will be held next week in Paris.
Greece’s six-point win and Canada’s later victory over Spain gave the Greeks third place in the group, although advancement is not guaranteed.
Canada and Australia have already advanced from Group A, while France, Germany and Brazil have advanced from Group B and the United States from Group C.
The other tickets will be decided by what happens this Saturday in the Group C match between Serbia and South Sudan.
Canada 88, Spain 85
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 20 points and converted two free throws in the final seconds to give the Canadians the victory.
Andrew Nembhard also added 18 points for Canada, which now awaits an opponent in the knockout phase.
Darío Brizuela scored 17 points to lead Spain, which was eliminated after Greece beat Australia and with a 1-2 record in the group stage.
The farewell has been early for the Iberian quintet, who climbed onto the podium for the last time in Rio de Janeiro 2016, with a bronze.
Brazil 102, Japan 84
Bruno Caboclo had 33 points and 17 rebounds as Brazil beat Japan. By finishing with a better point difference than Greece, the Brazilians qualified for the quarterfinals as one of the two best third-place teams.
Vitor Benite added another 19 points for Brazil, which finished third in Group B, behind France and Germany.
Foul trouble limited Caboclo in Brazil’s previous losses to France and Germany. He went scoreless against France and had just six points in 12 minutes of action against Germany before fouling out. This time, he stayed on the court and made his presence felt.
“This is the biggest stage in basketball,” Caboclo said. “I think international competition is bigger than the NBA. The Olympics are the biggest in the world. Every athlete wants to be here at least once. We did it. Hopefully we can make it to the quarterfinals.”
Josh Hawkinson led Japan with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
Japan played without leading scorer Rui Hachimura. The Japan Basketball Federation said before the game that Hachimura had left the training camp after suffering a left calf injury during the team’s overtime loss to France.
Japan lost all three of its group games and was eliminated.
Caboclo scored 15 of Brazil’s first 31 points, helping it build a 16-point lead in the third quarter. But Japan rallied and closed to within 77-73 entering the fourth.
Yudai Baba cut the deficit to 82-20 with just over seven minutes remaining. Brazil closed the game on a 22-4 run.
