He reached his game-high tally of 25 points before the interval as the Greeks raced to a 51-36 lead at half-time, setting the tone with an 8-0 start and then surging clear late in the second period.
Estonia, fueled by a team-high 19 points from Siim-Sander Veve and by yet another extraordinary display of support from their huge continent of traveling fans, fell as much as 29 behind before a late rally, bowing out of EuroBasket with a 1-4 record and ample respect earned.
Kostas Papanikolaou took up the mantle in the third, with a three that began an 18-4 run and extended the gap to 49-43, one including a three and a precision block from Thanasis Antetokounmpo whose younger brother Kostas made his tournament debut following a knee injury.
Estonia, fueled by a team-high 19 points from Siim-Sander Veve and by yet another extraordinary display of support from their huge continent of traveling fans, fell as much as 29 behind before a late rally, bowing out of EuroBasket with a 1-4 record and ample respect earned.
Stats Don’t Lie: The frenetic pace at which Greece played brought them 28 points on fast breaks with their defense limited Estonia to a mere 8. Greece also had 15 steals - the last team to have made more steals in a EuroBasket game was Italy in 2005: 16 v Croatia.
Bottom Line: Greece top Group C with a 5-0 record and will face the Czech Republic, the fourth-placed team from Group C, in Berlin for a place in the quarterfinals. Estonia head for home.
They said:
"We respect the team of the Czech Republic. They have some quality players who have played at NBA level or Euroleague level. This is a knockout game. We're going to approach this game as a final. Because that's the tournament: you have five games, that's the pool. You can construct something and we did this. Now it's the finals." - Greece head coach Dimitris Itoudis
"It feels great. These were tough games. Everything was amazing. Estonia are young running guys, they were great." - Greece forward Thanasis Antetokounmpo
"We're a super-young team and we need these games against the world's top players and for us, it's gaining experience. Maybe we can see we lost four games, but we deserve three wins right now. And I think we gained a lot.
"There is a lot of frustration because of these wins. We couldn't close out the games against Ukraine and against Croatia. It's still not in our mind but it's in our heart because we gave everything and we were just unlucky and this is frustrating. But otherwise, it's been a super experience. We feel as a young group, there's a lot to build on now.
The next EuroBasket is in three years. So in three years, we can get so much better. The sky is the limit for our potential." - Estonia forward Henri Drell
Giannis Antetokounmpo was 'all good' after suffering ankle issue in Greece's 90-69 win over Estonia at EuroBasket tournament