NBA star Antetokounmpo leads Greece into Olympics and Group A date with Canada’s men’s basketball team | CBC Sports

Giannis Antetokounmpo is now an Olympian.

Antetokounmpo is heading to the Olympics for the first time, after he scored 23 points and Greece held off Croatia 80-69 on Sunday in one of the four men’s basketball qualifying tournament finals being held to determine the final spots in the 12-team field for the Paris Games.

Greece will be placed in Group A for the Paris Games, facing Australia, Canada and either Spain or Bahamas in the opening stage.

Georgios Papagiannis scored 19 for Greece, which got 14 from Nick Calathes and earned an Olympic berth for the first time since 2008.

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

Already having qualified for the Paris field: the four-time defending gold medalist U.S., France, Germany, Japan, Serbia, South Sudan, Canada and Australia. France qualified as the host nation; the other seven teams on that list qualified based on their finishes at the World Cup last summer.

Following the World Cup, 24 teams were left to compete for the final four slots. They were decided in these winner-take-all qualifiers that started last week. Brazil grabbed the first of those spots Sunday, then Greece followed.

The last two spots in the 12-team Olympic field will be decided later Sunday: Bahamas visits Spain and Lithuania visits Puerto Rico, with the winners of those contests headed to Paris as well.

Brazil 94, Latvia 69

At Riga, Latvia, Brazil used a 19-0 run over the final 3:21 of the first quarter to set the tone in what became a surprisingly easy 94-69 victory over Latvia.

Bruno Caboclo led Brazil with 21 points and Leo Meindl added 20. Caboclo made a 65-foot 3-pointer to end the first quarter — one in which Brazil was 8 for 8 from beyond the arc to take a 34-11 lead and stun the home crowd.

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

Brazil will be placed in Group B for the Olympics, with games against France (July 27), Germany (July 30) and Japan (Aug. 2) in the opening stage.