Basketball
Final Four – Stefanos Dedas: “Olympiakos is of better quality but the cup has surprises”
Stefanos Dedas during the Greek Cup Final Four press conference focused on Olympiacos’ competitive dominance but also on the upsets taking place in the Greek Cup.
AEK return to Dyo Aorakia to lift the Greek Cup for the third time in four years, with Stefanos Dedas and Dimitris Mavroidis explaining the situation for their team. The Union coach stressed that everyone will be fighting for the Final Four trophy until the very end, noting that the event is always full of surprises.
Initially the Stefanos Dedas stated:
“We would like to express our excitement and pride that we, as AEK, are part of another major sporting event. Especially in Heraklion, where the team has had great moments in recent years, winning the cup twice. This in itself is a motivator and guide for what is to come. It is important to do something nice little by little like Greek basketball to see a Final Four in the future. Both as a coach and as a player we are in the elite, we have to do that organizationally too. We are on a good way.
As far as Olympiakos game goes, everyone knows he’s a favourite. It has a higher quality than us. However, the Cup is the institution of surprises. But we will try to put the pressure on Olympiacos with self-denial and a good plan. It’s not easy, but we’ll do what we can. We came to put Olympiakos in a difficult position“.
When adding: “The Greek Cup is a special motivation, an oasis for us in a very difficult and painful year. We wanted to give perspective to the season, defeating Peristeri gave us a new goal in the season. But that ends here. It’s a game or two. The championship gives you more opportunities and you have time to improve things, while the cup is different because the institution’s time horizon is much smaller. We have an important game tomorrow and that’s it.
I disagree with the feeling that we want to save the year. There are still three or four months until the end. The cup is a good opportunity to show something. The Cup Final Four is a big stop of the year, but we’re not staying here“.
When asked if AEK could play a match like this against Olympiakos a few weeks ago, he replied: “This coin has two sides. If we lose significantly in Liossia it would be in our favor in this case. But I try to keep the positive. At this point, Costas Sloukas showed his quality and level. Yes, the first game can be a guide in terms of tactics, but we keep in mind that we can always become the leader. That’s the meaning of the big team, in every game someone else shows up.
We must also anticipate the factors that can judge the winner at the crucial moment. Maybe we should have switched to Kostas Sloukas in that game, but we didn’t. We’ll see tomorrow what can be done“.
When asked about his team’s absenteeism, he explained: “for us it is no longer news, we smile at the problems. we will see tomorrow morning how our situation is. We all know what happens in the opponent’s camp, the same goes for Olympiacos. I repeat that those who will be present, those who are, will give everything“.
THAT Dimitris Mavroidis he said: “In Heraklion we have very fond memories, we want the good to flourish after 2018 and 2020. We will take as many chances as we have, we will play as AEK and we will give everything. But a game is a game. The Cup has shown that surprises are in store. At the last Final Four we were there together with George Printezis. Maybe he forgot, maybe he’s old (laughs). Health to all, good games and I wish people a lot of fun.
A title says nothing about AEK to save the year. It’s not just about a title. The goal of the team this year was to enter the new stadium and make a fresh start in the squad with lots of new kids.“.
I am a sports writer and journalist who has written for various online publications including Sportish. I’m originally from the UK but currently live in Toronto, Canada. I’m also an author on Sportish and have written several articles on a variety of sports-related topics.
On December 20-21, Niko-Basket lost two home matches to Dnepr and Zaporozhye in the eighth round of the Super League and therefore finished the calendar year in 9th place in the standings with 4 wins in 14 matches.
Head coach of the team after the defeat of Zaporozhye (67:78) Valentin Berestnev He listed the reasons for the team’s unsuccessful results as follows:
“Counting the first, third and fourth quarters, we won by one point each. We lost the entire game in the second quarter. We had a 7-point lead in the second quarter, but we finished with minus 9. We lost the fight, lost the rebounds, made childish mistakes. This caused the opponent to get over the shock of being behind 12:19 and the game turned in another direction.
We could not find a leader who could do what Lovings and Lishchina did. Eisa scored almost 30 points per game, surpassing our fourth point.
I would like to thank our fans who supported us until the end. They said warm and kind words to us after the match. This is our first year playing in the Super League. Most of the players have no experience of playing in the Super League: Max (Grischuk), Vitaly (Volodin), Bodya (Likhoy). Zaitsev, Safonov and Garbar have experience. Kabanov has little experience. This is a difficult season for them, which will show who will advance to the Super League level and who will not.
Therefore, I would like to thank our fans once again. There were two alarms today. Yesterday we finished the match three hours later than planned. Despite this, people stayed and supported us. We are very grateful for this support.
We train six times a week, twice a day to improve our game. I believe that we will overcome this situation and have a team that will compete for Super League awards, become a strong middle team and beat everyone at home, just like 10-15 years ago.
Most of the guys have no experience, so mistakes are made. Not technical, tactical. There is a lack of a leader who will take responsibility in difficult times. Now we are looking for such a player in the team. If we can’t find it, we will face three foreign players like most other teams. If our audience likes it.”
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
Six games of the NBA regular season were played on the night of December 21-22.
Atlanta hosted Chicago and lost in a high-scoring game.
The teams focused on offense from the beginning of the match and this continued throughout the game. As a result, Atlanta made 23 three-pointers and Chicago made 20, and both teams had a shooting percentage close to 50. The teams also frequently missed each other at the basket, so the game resembled a constant exchange of points. The leader changed 20 times in the meeting and the fate of the match was decided at the last minute. Prior to that, the Bulls had built a 6-point advantage, but the Hawks nearly made up for it as the opponents took one of every two shots and Young and Johnson each scored three points for the home team. Still, the outcome was 152:150 in favor of Chicago.
The most productive player of the match was Johnson, who fell one assist short of a triple-double with 36 points and 11 rebounds. The Bulls also had a triple-double contender, but Giddy, who had 19 points and 11 assists, was one rebound short.
Sacramento made a great comeback against Houston and won at home.
Having performed better in the first half, the Rockets eventually gained an advantage of 11 points (68:57) and maintained a comfortable distance from the opponent in the third quarter with 9 points (91:82), and at the beginning of the fourth 12 minutes, this difference increased to +14 – 100:86. But after that the Kings made a 12:0 move and practically equalized: 98:100. Houston then had a few-point advantage, but with 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Westbrook made a three-pointer and tied the score at 112:112. The match went to overtime and Schroeder’s three-point shot 4 seconds before the siren was decisive – 125:124.
At the end of this match, Schröder recorded a double-double with 27 points and 10 assists. While Westbrook achieved the same success with 21 points and 13 rebounds, Reynaud also played with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
New York confidently won its home game against Miami.
Heat had a successful performance by winning the first quarter with a score of 37:30, but in the second 12 minutes, the Knicks managed to close the gap and take the lead and entered the long break with +4 – 66:62 on the scoreboard. In the second half, New York constantly kept its opponent within two or three attacks and carried the match to a confident victory with 132:125.
Brunson was the best player of the game, scoring 47 points, which significantly helped the Knicks win.
NBA. Regular season, December 22
Atlanta – Chicago – 150:152 (38:38, 35:45, 42:33, 35:36)
In Atlanta: Johnson (36 + 11 rebounds + 9 assists), Young (35 + 9 assists), Okongwu (23 + 7 rebounds + 6 assists), Risache (17), Daniels (8 + 9 rebounds + 9 assists) – start; Krejci (20), Alexander-Walker (9), Gueye (2), Kennard (0), Newell (0).
Chicago: Buzelis (28), White (21), Giddy (19 + 9 rebounds + 12 assists), Okoro (14), Vucevic (13 + 6 assists) – start; Herter (16), Dosunmu (13), Jones (11), Collins (10 + 7 rebounds), Williams (4), Smith (3).
Sacramento – Houston – 125:124 Overtime (30:31, 27:37, 25:23, 30:21, 13:12)
Sacramento: DeRozan (27 + 9 assists), Murray (26), Westbrook (21 + 13 rebounds), Reynaud (12 + 14 rebounds), Achiuwa (5) – start; Schroeder (24 + 7 rebounds + 10 assists), Clifford (6), Cardwell (2), Monk (2), Ellis (0).
Houston: Shengyun (28), Durant (24 + 10 rebounds + 8 assists), Thompson (18 + 9 rebounds + 8 assists), Smith (18), Okogie (3) – start; Ison (16), Shepard (15), Capela (2).
New York – Miami – 132:125 (30:37, 36:25, 39:37, 27:26)
New York: Brunson (47 + 8 assists), Bridges (24), Anunoby (18), Hart (13 + 10 rebounds), Towns (2) – start; Clarkson (10), Robinson (9 + 7 rebounds), Kolek (6), Diawara (3).
Miami: Ware (28 + 19 rebounds), Powell (22), Adebayo (14 + 9 rebounds), Mitchell (13 + 8 assists), Wiggins (7) – start; Haykes (23), Smith (9), Fontecchio (7), Yakucionis (2).
Brooklyn – Toronto – 96:81 (24:18, 25:21, 18:26, 29:16)
Brooklyn: Porter (24 + 11 rebounds), Clowney (19 + 9 rebounds), Diomin (16), Clexton (12 + 7 rebounds), Menn (5 + 7 assists) – start; Sharp (8), Traore (8), Z. Williams (2), Martin (2), Wolf (0).
Toronto: Ingram (19), Quickley (17 + 10 assists), Agbaji (7), Barnes (6), Poeltl (2) – start; Walter (9), Murray-Boyles (8), Bettle (4), Mamukelashvili (4), Dick (3), Shead (2), Temple (0).
Washington – San Antonio – 113:124 (28:26, 21:43, 37:29, 27:26)
Washington: Carrington (21), Vukcevic (18 + 9 rebounds), McCollum (15), George (14 + 7 assists), Shempeni (5) – start; Johnson (19 + 7 rebounds), Brenham (9), Riley (8), Watkins (4), Hill (0).
San Antonio: Fox (27 + 7 rebounds + 6 assists), Cornet (20 + 12 rebounds), Castle (18 + 11 assists), Barnes (14), Vassell (11) – start; Vembanyama (14 + 12 rebounds), K. Johnson (12 + 9 rebounds), Olynyk (4), Shempeni (3), Harper (1).
Minnesota – Milwaukee – 103:100 (23:29, 25:31, 27:15, 28:25)
Minnesota: Edwards (24 + 6 assists), DiVincenzo (18), Randle (12 + 7 rebounds), Gobert (11 + 18 rebounds), McDaniels (0) – start; Reed (12), Shannon (11), Hyland (9), Conley (6 + 6 assists), Clark (0).
Milwaukee: Porter (24 + 10 rebounds + 9 assists + 6 turnovers), Portis (16 + 11 rebounds), Turner (13), Kuzma (12 + 10 rebounds), Green (4) – start; Rollins (16), Sims (9), Trent (6), G. Harris (0).
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has written for various websites and magazines. I currently work as an author at Sportish, a news website that covers sports news. My main focus is writing about soccer, rugby and other sports in the world.
Head coach of BC “Rivne” Denis Spiridonov He shared his impressions about the defeat in the Super League match against Kyiv-Basket – 63:82:
“I want to apologize to our fans. It’s a shame. I don’t want to comment. I don’t understand where the team is today. Especially in the first quarter. Today’s match ended in the first quarter. The whole story.
Nothing worked when we stayed true to our principles. We were preparing for the Kyiv-Basket match and we understood what they were going to do defensively. And we couldn’t break their exchanges with doubles. Everything was done exactly the opposite. We prepared for one thing; We did it differently. We will continue to work.
I knew what they would do, what defensive systems Kyiv-Basket would use. We prepared carefully for this. We have Americans, leaders, but today they are completely blocked. This is the value of “Kyiv-Basket” respectively.
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
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