Giannis Stars as Greece Beats Lithuania, Advances to EuroBasket Bracket Semifinals

Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the most accomplished players in basketball history as an NBA champion, two-time MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, nine-time All-Star and nine-time All-NBA selection.

Now he is two wins away from becoming a EuroBasket champion as well.

The Milwaukee Bucks star led Greece to an 87-76 victory over Lithuania in Tuesday's EuroBasket 2025 quarterfinals showdown to advance to the semifinals in the bracket. He finished with 29 points, six rebounds, two assists, four steals and one block on 9-of-15 shooting from the field.

Next up for Greece is a matchup with Türkiye in the semifinals after Alperen Şengün led his country to a quarterfinals win over Poland with a triple-double of 19 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

Şengün against Antetokounmpo will be a familiar matchup for NBA fans and one between two of the biggest stars of this tournament, and it will be Greece's first semifinals appearance since 2009.

The latter has largely been a one-man force for Greece throughout EuroBasket and was once again unstoppable for extended stretches against Lithuania. However, he received plenty of help Tuesday in the form of Vasileios Toliopoulos (17 points and 3-of-4 shooting from deep) and Kostas Papanikolaou (eight points, seven rebounds, three assists and 2-of-3 shooting from deep).

The outside shooting was particularly notable with Antetokounmpo on the floor because Greece, like the Bucks when they are playing at their best, becomes largely unguardable when the supporting cast is hitting from the outside.

After all, Lithuania had to collapse on Antetokounmpo every time he attacked the basket, which created some of the open looks on the outside.

But the Bucks star did plenty of scoring on his own as well, including when he poured in 11 points in the first quarter alone. He dealt with some foul trouble at times after that, but it was still clear throughout the contest that Greece could simply turn to him whenever it needed a play in a key moment.

And it did just that down the stretch as he put the game away in the final minutes with a flurry of points.

Lithuania did what it could to stay within striking distance, thanks in large part to its own NBA player in Jonas Valančiūnas. The big man notched a double-double of 24 points and 15 rebounds, but he was the only player on his team to finish with more than 12 points.

That simply wasn't enough to overcome Antetokounmpo and Co.