Why did Giannis only score 12 points? Turkey's head coach reveals the strategy and jokes about the star being poached by the NBA

On September 13th Beijing time, during the EuroBasket semifinals, Turkey overwhelmed Greece 98-64, holding the Greek superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo to only 12 points (6 made shots out of 13 attempts) — a new personal low for him in this tournament.

This strategy was the most successful approach employed by any team against Giannis in this EuroBasket. Turkey’s head coach Ataman later explained how his players managed to effectively contain the “Greek Freak,” preventing him from playing a pivotal role in the game.

Ataman stated: “We used a very aggressive defensive strategy. Against Giannis, every player would initially step back to defend and cut off his passing lanes. We constantly forced him to aggressively drive inward with the ball, then immediately sent Sengun to double-team. Osman would actively shut down his receiving options, and whenever Giannis tried to get past Osman, Sengun would promptly provide interior help defense. Giannis never found comfortable scoring opportunities throughout the match. As I said at the press conference, this isn’t the NBA. In European basketball, if you set your interior defense well and your players remain aggressive in rotations against him, limiting him isn’t that difficult.”

Osman not only contributed significantly on defense to contain Giannis but was also in excellent form offensively. The forward from Efes scored 14 points in the first quarter alone, helping Turkey establish an early 26-16 lead. He finished the game with 28 points, shooting 6 of 8 from three-point range, and also grabbed 6 rebounds.

Ataman even joked that Osman’s all-around performance, especially his outstanding defense on Giannis, might attract NBA teams and lead to him leaving Efes.

“Osman did an amazing job defending Giannis. I’m not sure if my friend, Efes’ general manager Şenol, will get into trouble over this — because surely many NBA teams are now interested in signing Osman to guard Giannis. But Osman is currently happy at Efes. His performance this time was flawless, both smart and aggressive.”

This victory also marks Turkey’s first-ever appearance in the EuroBasket final. They will face the reigning world champions Germany in the final to compete for the gold medal.

Ataman said: “While this win is exciting, it’s far from enough for us. We are fully prepared to fight with everything we have for the championship title.”