Through two games at the Paris Olympics, multiple time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has compiled 61 points, 16 rebounds and has been to the free-throw line for 20 attempts.
The one anomaly in his bulging box score dominance has been the assists, with the 29-year-old only credited for five, well below his usual gaudy numbers for a 7-footer. It's hardly Antetokounmpo's fault, with his teammates shooting a porous 21-for-65 from long range in the Olympics thus far, with the majority of those coming in plenty of space as Antetokounmpo passes out of double, triple and even quadruple teams in Lille.
Two days after battling Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Canadians, the Boomers now face freight train Antetokounmpo, a one-man wrecking ball desperate to give Greece their first win of the tournament.
"There's no secrets with him. You cannot physically guard him with one guy," Australian head coach Brian Goorjian told ESPN. "You defend him on the elbow, you defend him on the block. You got to deal with him rolling out of on balls. Then there's the open floor, don't even get me started..." he trailed off.
Dealing with the extreme volume outside shooting of Spain, followed by physical individual shot making of Canada, the Boomers are yet to deal with a dominant big man in this tournament, presenting not only a new challenge, but arguably the greatest in the game.
"We're doing everything we can, that's the primary issue. To this point we haven't been challenged in that area. I guess the closest one would be the French game with [Victor] Wembanyama, but he's more perimeter and shooting.
"This guy's dynamic athletically, he's just amazing. The focus point for sure. You're going to get a Greek team and an Australian team that are absolutely desperate, so we are going to see this guy at his very, very best."
The beauty of Olympic competition is the familiarity of players from nations across the world. Minutes after Team USA defeated South Sudan on Wednesday, American guard and former teammate of Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee, Jrue Holiday initially shrugged when asked about the challenge ahead for Australia.
"Kind of being able to pack the paint might help. I don't know how well his team is shooting. Try and slow him down just show him bodies, don't foul and show him three and four guys," Holiday told ESPN.
"It's hard to guard him one-on-one, the angles that he takes on his drives, he does really well at sliding by those guys. It's about trying to have the guys who can stay in front of the ball and then having two or three guys behind who can support."
Everyone in the world knows where Antetokounmpo can and will destroy you. Even slightly containing him is an entirely different problem. Attempting just two long range shots thus far in Lille, Antetokounmpo is 23-for-32 on two-point attempts, while also hitting 15 of his 20 tries from the charity stripe.
Understandably, the focus of Boomers pregame meetings is pretty simple, with Goorjian leaning on Joe Ingles in a search for any further intel. Ingles and Antetokounmpo played one season together as teammates with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2022-23.
"Joe has been insightful in a good way," Goorjian said. "We have to gather information, we definitely listen. In the meeting yesterday, before I even asked the question, Joe was going through different things and he had helpful points, he's played with him and has just little things that you wouldn't know unless you played with him. Any little bit of information helps with that guy."
While Jock Landale, Nick Kay, Will Magnay and Duop Reath will be asked to take the brunt of the physicality down low, the Antetokounmpo project could once again fall in the hands of Dyson Daniels, who has emerged as one of the breakout players of the tournament.
Already handed the primary matchups of Lorenzo Brown and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in France, Antetokounmpo would complete a terrifying group stage trifecta for the 21-year-old in his first Olympic campaign.
"Getting into his dribble, being low to the floor is certainly part of it," Goorjian started when asked about the possibility of Daniels guarding Antetokounmpo.
"This is different to the NBA though; he can stand down there on the block and they can throw the ball over the top. Using Dyson on the perimeter is definitely an option."
"Dyson was the first one in camp where we decided it's his time. We told him before [last year's] World Cup he wasn't going to play a lot, but he was coming into this for the Olympics. Watch everything, be at shootaround, because I sense you're going to be our guy in France."
"As soon as he came into camp, we knew this was where we were going to head. There's been a strategy to all of this, but I feel like this is one of the boxes that's been ticked when we look at this process."
From Holiday to Goorjian to the entire Boomers camp. There is inevitability in which they speak about Antetokounmpo. It of course makes total sense. But with Antetokounmpo standing in the way of punching a ticket to the quarter finals in Paris, there is one word that comes to mind when considering the next 24 hours.
"Stressed," Goorjian said.
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