Spain kept their box-and-one tactic in reserve for the final stretch of the game to surprise Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece in their Olympic Games matchup. This last defensive adjustment helped secure an important win, improving their chances of advancing to the quarterfinals.
Spain's national team coaching staff threw every tactic in the book at Giannis Antetokounmpo to prevent him from leading Greece to an Olympic victory. The final decision, however, caught one of the best players in the world off guard and helped secure the win for Spain, 84-77.
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
25
|
| Santi Aldama | |
| Points | 19 |
| Accuracy | 6-14 |
| Rebounds | 12 |
| Assists | 2 |
Spain was up by four with three minutes to play and was on a crucial 4-0 run. Just a minute earlier, Giannis had posterized Santi Aldama to tie the game at 71-71.
The volunteers of the Paris 2024 Olympics were shocked by his brother, Thanasis Antetokounmpo's reaction, who almost jumped out of the stands to support Giannis and the Greek team following the play.
"Posters, all this 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 BasketNews following the game.
Aldama showed courage by responding with a tough two-pointer on the next play, and he concluded a decisive 8-0 run with a tremendous put-back dunk to increase the lead to 79-71.
However, a slight defensive adjustment had a major impact on the other side of the floor.
Sergio Scariolo and his staff came up with a defensive tactic they hadn't tried the entire game. Scariolo put Willy Hernangomez on Giannis, while Lorenzo Brown, Sergio Llull, Santi Aldama, and Alex Abrines focused on the remaining Greek players.
In one of the first plays, Giannis turned the ball over. Nick Calathes and Giorgos Papagiannis missed three field goals combined, and Greece couldn't score for almost 90 seconds, with Giannis not attempting a single shot.
"Personally, I feel like that box-and-one kind of threw him off guard. Especially with Willy guarding him because we didn't have Willy guard him any time in the game today," Spain's point guard Lorenzo Brown told BasketNews.
Willy Hernangomez
| Team: |
FC Barcelona Spain |
| Position: | C |
| Age: | 30 |
| Height: | 209 cm |
| Weight: | 113 kg |
| Birth place: | Madrid, Spain |
"So I feel like once Willy got on him, he was kind of standoffish because we packed the paint as much as possible. And Willy is a big guy as well, so it was pretty difficult for him to bully his way in there."
"Defense was the key. We tried to pack the paint as much as possible with Giannis, but you know, that guy gets into that paint and can just stretch his arms out, dunk, and do whatever he wants in there. But, just controlling him for the most part and watching out for those shooters," Brown concluded.
"We thought we had to keep it for the very end," Scariolo explained his decision to use the box-and-one to BasketNews.
"Actually, with Luis Guil, our defensive coordinator, we talked a lot about doing it at some point, but we decided to save it for the end. I wanted to keep Willy on the floor because his pick-and-roll with Lorenzo [Brown] is a really great weapon for us. But defensively, he might struggle, so at that point, we wanted to use a box with four versatile, dynamic, fast players who could get in, get back, and trap Giannis. Fortunately, it worked because Willy did a good job within his capabilities. He managed his part of the responsibility well," Scariolo praised the big man.
"The coaching staff is very crafty, man," Lorenzo Brown praised his coaches. "You don't know what they're going to do offensively or defensively. So, I feel like teams going against us should be on their toes. I feel like the zone is probably our best defense because we're agile and quick, and yeah, if teams can't shoot the ball as well, that's gonna hurt them."
Greece was 12 of 35 from three (34.3%), and Giannis finished the game with 27 points (12/17 FG, 3/5 FT), 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 4 turnovers.
"The basic idea was to guard Giannis collectively as a team, but to select very well the situations where we wanted to put the second man on him and where we didn't want to," Scariolo explained to BasketNews how Spain was preparing the defensive plan against one of the best players in the world.
"We had to choose carefully what we would do when the ball was coming off his hands, whether it was a closeout, rotation, or just getting back. That was the most challenging part of the plan to teach the players. Of course, open-court transitions and rebounds are very hard to stop. But in the set defense, in stationary defense, I think we did a good job."
"We didn't want to always go with two people on him because his height and passing ability can find open teammates from the top where it's hard to deflect those passes," the coach added.
Despite Giannis' numbers, the collective goal was to stop the entire Greek team and secure the victory. This huge win, sparked by great coaching decisions and dedicated individual performances, put Spain ahead in the chase for the Olympic quarterfinals.
