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As if the heartbreak of losing in the qualifying final for the Summer Olympics wasn't enough, Croatia's Ivica Zubac and Dario Saric couldn't even blow off some steam into the wee hours of Monday morning in Athens, Greece, without being antagonized by some upstart locals.
In a spat that must've been sparked by
Greece's 80-69 win over Croatia to get into the Paris Summer Games on the hardwood, Zubac and Saric traded fists and such with bar patrons who had to be taunting them for their demoralizing defeat.
https://twitter.com/mikejbabcock/status/1810392256798666860
Difficult to sort out who's who in the zoo of this nightlife fever dream, but unless I were a Grecian with Giannis at my side, I wouldn't be going after multiple NBA players no matter how deep my squad was. Chances are, nobody in my group could hold a candle to the wingspans of Saric or Zubac. In case you're wondering, Google tells me Saric's wingspan is 6-10, while Zubac's is 7-4.
To have the stamina to throw down at 5:30 a.m. local time is worthy of a cap tip to all these quarreling men. If I were in a super bummer headspace like Saric and Zubac were here, I'd probably have called it a night several hours prior, stumbled out to get some drunk food, and gone back to whatever sick hotel they were staying in. Alas, they chose to stick it out and keep drowning their sorrows, leading to an altercation.
The silver lining to this is it can't get any worse in the offseason for either player. Saric and Zubac can learn from this, get some extra rest, avoid going too HAM on the summer nightlife scene, and focus on getting right for next NBA season. Saric just signed with the Denver Nuggets, who are looking to bounce back after failing to defend their NBA title. Zubac is still sticking it out with the Clippers. They should have a chance to make some noise as long as Kawhi Leonard is healthy and Tyronn Lue is the head coach.
Continuing these concluding paragraphs on a more uplifting tune, Giannis was visibly emotional about getting into the Olympics.
https://twitter.com/FIBA/status/1810038268366373030
Unlike most NBA players who just get to
lap the competition on Team USA, Giannis has the burden of willing his country through a qualifying tournament just to get to the Summer Games stage. Nothing against Croatia, but it's better for international basketball as a whole that Giannis is an Olympian.
