By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Giannis Antetokounmpo, together with his brothers Thanasis and Kostas, are facing the veterans (Thodoris Papaloukas, Dimitris Diamantidis, Michalis Kakiouzis and others) of the Greek National Team that was crowned European champion in 2005 and won silver medal in the 2006 World Cup, for the 2017 Antetokounbros event taking place at OAKA, Athens.
This Greek national team outfit was also the last to defeat almighty Team USA. Since that night of September 1st 2006 in Saitama, Japan and the 101-96 loss to Greece, the American national team has registered nothing but victories.
Now it’s Giannis who wants to see himself and his brothers grab the torch from their predecessors, and emerge victorious against Team USA with the Greek NT.
“When I was little I didn’t know what I will do but knew what I wanted to do. Like I’ve said, I want to beat team USA with my brothers,” said the Milwaukee Bucks point forward in the press conference ahead of the “Antetokounbros Athens”. “Like the guys (Papaloukas, Diamantidis, Kakiouzis etc) we have here. They were the last to beat them (team USA).”
Giannis also commented on the responsibility that comes paired with stardom and the message of the #WeAreAllBros motto that highlights the Antetokounbros events.
“For us, this is a big responsibility. There are many guys that are role models. We want to give our message but it is a big responsibility. This has been done through hard work. Since I was a kid, I learned to work. All these come from work. It doesn’t come from something that happened yesterday, but from everything that has happened in all those years. Since we were little. Something greater can be done. The arena will be full of kids and families and this will be a nice.”