Greece had a perfect start to their FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament campaign in Piraeus with a 109-82 win over Dominican Republic.
In front of packed Peace and Friendship Stadium with 11,648 fans, Greece were just on another level, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The NBA superstar played his first official game with the national team since 2022, helping Greece get one step closer to securing the top spot in Group B.
The Greeks took full control from the get go, hitting a double-digit lead in the first quarter, and the game looked over from there.
While Dominican Republic did reduce the gap to 10 points, it never got closer than that, and as Greece began to hit three-pointers in the second half, it became clearer Greece were storming home to victory.
Giannis, who had not played an official game of basketball for nearly three months, showed he had no rust to shake off.
In just over 18 minutes of play he looked at 100 per cent, finishing with 32 points, not missing a single shot on court besides some free throws. He converted nine of his 13 attempts.
The ‘Greek Freak’ also had two rebounds and two assists, while achieving a game-high 34 efficiency.
Greece as a whole shot 16-of-30 from three-point range, as nine different players knocked down at least one three-pointer.
Coach Vassilis Spanoulis had given the green light to all his players to shoot, including centre Georgios Papagiannis popping behind the three-point line and knocking down a pair of threes.
Greece will next face Egypt in their second and final-group stage game.
