Antetokounmpo heads to first Olympics with win over Croatia

Antetokounmpo heads into his first Olympic Games with Greece after scoring 23 points to beat Croatia 80-69 on Sunday in one of the four pre-Olympic tournament finals to determine the 12 teams that will compete in the Olympics.

Georgios Papgiannis had 19 points for Greece, which got 14 from Nick Calathes and earned its first Olympic berth since 2008.

Ivica Zubac added 19 points and 13 rebounds for Croatia, which got 15 from Mateo Dreznjak and Mario Hezonja and 14 from Dario Saric.

Greece was placed in Group A at the Paris Games and will face Australia, Canada and Spain/Bahamas in the first round.

Already qualified for Paris are four-time Olympic gold medallists the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Serbia, South Sudan, Canada and Australia. France qualified as the host country; the other seven teams on the list qualified based on their best finishes at the World Cup last summer.

After the World Cup, 24 teams remained to compete for the last 4 available spots. They were decided in these qualifiers that began last week.

The last two tickets will be decided by the Bahamas vs. Spain and Lithuania vs. Puerto Rico matches, with the winners of those matches qualifying for Paris, in the same way.

BRAZIL 94, LATVIA 69

Brazil is headed to the Paris Olympics after a 19-0 run in the final 3:21 of the first period set the tone for a surprisingly easy 94-69 victory over Latvia in the first of four men’s basketball qualifying tournament finals on Sunday.

Bruno Caboclo led Brazil with 21 points and Leo Meindl added 20. Caboclo hit a 65-foot 3-pointer to end the first quarter – one in which Brazil shot 8-for-8 from beyond the arc to take a 34-11 lead that stunned the home crowd in Riga, Latvia.

“My father was a basketball player and his dream was to play in the Olympics,” Meindl said. “I’m doing this for myself, for him and for my family. I feel on cloud nine.”

Rihards Lomazs scored 15 for Latvia, which got 14 points from Rolands Smits and Arturs Zagars.

“It looked like everything was going their way from the first period,” Zagars said.

Brazil will be in Group B of the Olympic Games, facing France (July 27), Germany (July 30) and Japan (August 2) in the first phase.