Greece head coach Vassilis Spanoulis believes Giannis Antetokounmpo is still not receiving proper treatment from referees and should be awarded even more free throws, despite taking 16 against Lithuania in the quarterfinals.
Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo pushed Greece to its first EuroBasket semi-final in 16 years with a dominant performance against Lithuania in the quarterfinal.
Giannis finished the game with a stat line of 29 points (9/14 2PT, 11/16 FT), 6 rebounds, and 4 steals, advancing to his first semi-final in any major national team competition in his career.
Despite his dominance in this game and throughout the tournament, Greece's head coach believes he's still not getting the respect he deserves from referees and is missing out on many calls.
When asked if Giannis was finally being treated fairly by the referees after shooting 16 free throws against Lithuania, Spanoulis insisted he should actually be shooting even more, noting that he is often fouled in a non-sportsmanlike way.
"Giannis shoots all the fouls that they make on him. He should shoot more," Spanoulis stated.
"When they grab him and two, three players collapse on him, he's often fouled in a non-sportsmanlike way, but this is normal for him. He's still four to six free throws short compared to what he should have had since 2022, especially compared to a lot of players in the tournament," he added.
Giannis is averaging 9 free-throw attempts per game, converting 63.8% from the line.
In comparison, Slovenia's Luka Doncic is averaging 13.8 free-throw attempts in this tournament.
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