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Giannis Antetokounmpo’s passing prowess draws criticism from Alperen Sengun
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- Giannis Antetokounmpo’s passing prowess draws criticism from Alperen Sengun
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Houston Rockets All-Star Alperen Sengun and the Turkey men's national basketball team eliminated Milwaukee Bucks All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece 94-68 in EuroBasket. After Sengun led Turkey to victory against Poland in the quarterfinals, he revealed what it took to bring down Antetokounmpo and the Greeks.
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Sengun says Turkey's Ercan Osmani did a superb job of staying in front of Antetokoumpo while help defense forced Giannis to pass the ball, which isn't one of Antetokounmpo's strong points, Sengun said, after the win, per BasketNews' X, formerly Twitter.
"We just put Ercan [Osmani] on him and we helped as much we can," Alperen said. "Ercan did a great job today. Of course, Giannis is one of the best players in the world. We just tried to help Ercan and think we did a good job. He's not a great passer. He's an amazing player but he's not a great passer. We just tried to help, jump, and close the paint."
Antetokounmpo finished with 12 points on 6-of-13 attempts, 12 rebounds, five assists, and five turnovers in the semifinal matchup. Kostas Sloukas added 15 points. Osmani's 28 points led Turkey. He also finished with six rebounds and two steals, while Sengun added 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting, 12 rebounds, six assists, two steals, and one block.
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Turkey went on a 12-0 run in the second quarter, taking a 49-31 lead into the second half. For the first time in 24 years, Turkey is headed to the EuroBasket final where they'll face Germany for the gold medal on Sunday.
Alperen Sengun's accomplish feat not seen since 1995
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Rockets All-Star Alperen Sengun record a triple-double in the quarterfinals . He joined Slovenia's Luka Doncic, who completed the same feat in an 86-69 win against Belgium during the group stage. Sengun finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists against Poland.
He added three steals while shooting 6-for-14 from the field and 7-for-9 from the free throw line in 30 minutes. Sengun posted an efficiency rating of 33 and a plus/minus of +15, spearheading Turkey's unbeaten run to 5-0. Still, their biggest challenge awaits in their gold medal matchup against Dennis Schroder, Franz Wagner, and Germany, who eliminated Finlad to advance to the final round.
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