Things Got A Bit Testy At The End Of The US-Greece World Cup Game Saturday

We didn't get to watch the game this morning and missed this but apparently the Antetokounmpo brothers - Giannis and Thanasis - gave Harrison Barnes a solid cheap shot near the end of the game.

As we mentioned Friday, we thought that the Boston Celtics on the US team - Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum, who sat this one out - might have some leftover feelings about losing to Giannis’ Antetokounmpo’s Milwauke Bucks in the playoffs.

We don’t know if it did, but Brown let the brothers know that he wasn't happy with the takedown and things got a bit testy.

So testy in fact that there were no post-game handshakes and US coach Gregg Popovich held his guys on the court while the Greek team left so that there would be no tunnel confrontation.

There were various things said afterwards but Barnes probably made the best point: “The game was over; probably a frustration play. Apologies only go so far. If I don’t get up and something would’ve happened, apologies aren’t going to help us in the next game. Luckily everything is all good.”

The US was going to win this game and that was clear fairly early. Nonetheless it’s interesting that both Turkey and Greece, when put on the big stage, both had emotional situations at the end that were a problem.

For Turkey, it was lacking the composure to win the game at the foul line, as they missed four straight in winning time.

For Greece, is was the Antetokounmpo brothers taking a cheap shot and not keeping their composure. Yes, the game was already won by the US, but if you want to excel at this level you have to be professional in every sense and they weren’t. That’s unfortunate.