Germany’s Franz Wagner celebrates with Germany’s Daniel Theis after Germany won the men’s quarterfinal basketball match between Germany and Greece during the Paris Olympics at the Bercy Arena in Paris on August 6, 2024. (Photo by Damien MEYER / AFP)
World Cup champion Germany reached the Paris Olympics men’s basketball semifinals for the first time Tuesday, coming from behind to beat Greece 76-63 and dumping two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo out of the Summer Games.
Trailing by as many as 12 in the first quarter, Germany had knotted the score at 36-36 at halftime and after a tense third quarter roared away in the fourth to book a meeting with either host nation France or Canada for a place in the final.
Germany, fuelled by 18 points from Franz Wagner, withstood a 22-point performance from Antetokounmpo to remain unbeaten in four games.
READ: SCHEDULE: Men’s basketball quarterfinals at Paris Olympics 2024
Johannes Thiemann’s dunk with 1:24 left in the third put Germany up 54-50. Thiemann finished with 10 points, six rebounds and a steal and Dennis Schroder had 13 points and assists coming off the bench.
Greece burst out of the gate and their fans were on their feet when Antetokounmpo threw down a dunk that pushed their lead to 16-4 with less than five minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Nick Calathes found Antetokounmpo for an alley-oop dunk less than a minute later and Calathes followed with a three-pointer that put Greece up by 12 with less than a minute left in the first.
READ: Germany tops France in Paris Olympics basketball
But Germany slowly turned the tide, Franz Wagner and Moritz Wagner scored six first-half points apiece and Germany dominated on the boards as they clawed back to tie it up.
Schroder found Daniel Theis for an alley-oop that made it 36-36 seconds before halftime.
Schroder opened the third with a three-pointer that gave Germany their first lead of the game and after a back-and-forth battle Isaac Bonga’s three-pointer at the buzzer to end the third sent the Germans into the final period with a 59-52 lead.
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