Santi Aldama led Spain to a victory over Giannis Antetokounmpo's Greece. After getting posterized by the Greek Freak, he explained the moment and his attitude later.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was dominant once again but Santi Aldama's Spain managed to beat Greece in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
25
|
| Santi Aldama | |
| Points | 19 |
| Accuracy | 6-14 |
| Rebounds | 12 |
| Assists | 2 |
Aldama was the highest-scorer on the Spanish roster with a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds in his account.
Spain used a variety of defensive strategies in the game, including full-court press, 2-3 zone, 3-2 zone, box-and-one, to combat Giannis' dominance. There's no true way to stop him, Aldama says.
"There's no true strategy, but for us, it was just packing the paint, being physical, being in front of him. He's a however-many times MVP, he's a great player. There's no recipe to stop him," Aldama said after the game. "As I said before, courage - I think that's the word that describes the game."
During the match, Aldama even got posterized by Giannis. However, the Spaniard went on to score against Antetokounmpo on he ensuing possession, essentially negating the episode in the previous attack.
"Posters, all this kind of stuff, it's tough, especially with a guy like him. You just try to make a defensive play. You can either step away or try to block the shot. You probably block it only one out of ten times, but I tried," Aldama told Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.
"[You] get posterized, but [you look at the] next play. It's a high-scoring game, you just have to find ways to score [on] the next possession or get a stop [on] the next possession and not think about the last one," he explained. "Obviously, it's very tough to guard him but just have to focus on the next one."
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