Basketball
The year of Flionis’ basketball maturity
The big performance in the semifinals of the Greek Cup Final Four against Olympiakos, the… personality change and the next step. At 25, Dimitris Flionis is now showing he’s ready to take it to the next level.
Dimitris Flionis is not a child. He is 25 years old. He is not an inexperienced player. This year, however, another player shows up. And those who hadn’t realized that until now surely understood it when they watched the 2nd semi-final of the Greek Cup Final Four, where he was one of the leaders of AEK in the 76-70 loss to Olympiakos.
Flionis went into the game dynamically from the start. He was ordered to attack situations one on one. And he did just that, finishing the game on 18 points with 5/9 two points, 2/5 three points, 2/2 shots, 1 rebound, 4 assists and 3 steals in 36 minutes of attendance.
By the end of the game, AEK returned from -18 but was defeated, and the absence of four shooting guards (Angola, Rautins, Pappas, Langford) left them with a question mark as to what could be done. At the same time, there was no question mark as to what he achieved with Flionis.
change in its DNA
Flionis has consistently competed in the Stoiximan Basket League since the age of 19. From the age of 20 he had a permanent role on Mars. However, his profile was clear: Consistent defender, good organizer, does not make mistakes, but cautious in attack. This prevented him from taking the step up. And he’s trying to change that at AEK this year.
This season, Flionis has averaged 6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists with 36.7% on three-pointers in 24-minute participation. Last year, in his final season on Mars, he had 5.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 21 minutes of attendance. The change in numbers is not large. But his image is completely different.
On Mars, Flionis had the special role of the “water carrier”. The point guard, who primarily lowers the ball and organizes play before passing it to a teammate, has few opportunities to create and execute. At AEK, however, his role is different. The Thessaloniki guard has more time with the ball and is required to take initiatives.
Stefanos Dedas has tried to change Flionis’ DNA this year. Convince him to be more aggressive. Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes not. Against Olympiacos, on the other hand, people saw the best version of the 25-year-old guard. “I’m also proud of Flionis, not because of his defense or his dedication, but because I convinced him before the game to play at the level of Wokap or Larentzakis, because creatively Sloukas is at a better level. I’m trying to show the world that these kids have shots and decisions to make. It is not possible for Greek players to be Rolistas. I’m trying but I can’t solve it alone” said the coach of AEK after the game and wanted to continue to encourage the international guard.
Ready for the next step
In a season where the word “problem” is associated with AEK, Flionis seems to be his biggest win. The “Union” believed in him, persuaded him to sign, gave him a bigger role and remained true to its commitments. At the same time, it was very important that Flionis himself seemed willing to change his DNA a bit in a new environment, having decided to step out of his comfort zone and leave Mars. His call to the men’s national team for FIBA’s “windows” just days ago was definitely the justification for his efforts.
Flionis suddenly got tutoring this year at the age of 25. He was prompted to switch roles, become more aggressive, which often showed he jumped at the opportunity. But now it’s time to take the next step in its evolution. To realize that appearances like this against Olympiacos cannot be a flash in the pan, but the norm. It will be neither easy nor easy. But it’s something he needs to do to eventually find out what his true ceiling is.
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.
Head coach of “Kharkov Falcons” Valery Plekhanov He summarized the team’s 2025 results and talked about the preparations for the continuation of the season:
“Summing up the results of the calendar year, I want to congratulate all our fans on the upcoming New Year and Merry Christmas, wish our favorite team peace and good victories! “Kharkov Falcons” are the first players of this Super League season, so second place at the moment is a good result.
There are a few points we would like to emphasize separately. First of all, seven players from last season’s active squad won the Premier League together, but five of them never played in the Super League. Therefore, the experience they gained in the first half of this season is almost priceless. Secondly, Kharkiv Falcons are one of the two champion teams that did not play a single match at home. It’s very difficult when you’re not playing for your fans, you’re training in one gym, and you’re playing in a different gym every time, even on home tours. In these conditions, 4 defeats in 13 matches is a good result.
One of the most negative moments of this year was not being able to participate in the last four of the Ukrainian Cup. Unfortunately, we were a little unlucky in the draw. After an emotionally difficult and physically exhausting match with Krivbass, we did not have enough strength for the next match against Kiev-Basket in the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, our performances in the cup are over, but now we will be able to focus all our efforts on the championship.
Our main problem now is injuries. We have five injured players, three of whom have serious injuries that require a long recovery period. We’re about to get off to a very tough start to the new calendar season because the Falcons will be playing basketball six weekends in a row, which means six road trips with no rest time. If we could count on all twelve players in the squad at the beginning of the season, there will no longer be such a rotation. Therefore, all the responsibility and burden will fall on the players in the rankings. I hope they get over their injuries in the new year, recover from their injuries as soon as possible, return to work and help their beloved club properly represent Kharkiv in the Super League.
Despite the holidays, we have training scheduled almost seven days a week. “I really hope that by January 10 we will be a combat-ready team that can solve serious problems.”
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.
On December 23, as part of the 1/8 final of the Romanian Cup, the Ukrainian derby was played between Bucharest and Dinamo. Vyacheslav Bobrova and “Fast” Alexandra Lipovoy.
Dinamo won the match 89:79, and the fate of the ticket to the next round was decided in overtime, as Rapid won the first match – 83:73.
The home players acted more accurately in extra time and won with a total score of 101:85 and advanced to the quarter-finals.
Vyacheslav Bobrov made a double-double in 33 minutes on the field, scoring 10 points (4/7 two-pointers, 0/1 three-pointers, 2/2 free throws), collecting 10 rebounds, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 2 fouls.
Alexander Lipovoy played 38 minutes, scored 16 points (1/2 two-pointers, 4/7 three-pointers, 2/2 free throws), collected 3 rebounds, made 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls.
Romanian Cup. 1/8 final. 2nd match, 23 December
Dinamo Bucharest – Rapid Bucharest – 101:85 Overtime (17:22, 28:12, 24:19, 20:26, 12:6)
Match record:
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.
Basketball
Mikhailyuk repeated his personal best from the NBA regular season in the match against Memphis
Ukrainian basketball player who plays for Utah Jazz Svyatoslav Mikhayyuk He repeated his personal best in starts in the NBA regular season.
This happened 128:137 in the game between the Utah Jazz and the Memphis Grizzlies on the night of December 23-24.
In this match, Mikhailyuk stayed on the field for 22 minutes and during this time he recorded 9 points (4/4 free throws, 1/4 two-point, 1/5 three-pointers), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul.
This match was Mikhailyuk’s 27th match as a starter this season. So, at the end of December, Svyatoslav repeated his career record in terms of starts, missing only one game against Dallas.
Previously, Mikhailiuk managed to play as a starter in many matches only in the 2019/20 season as part of the Detroit Pistons.
The Jazz are in 12th place in the NBA Western Conference rankings with 10 wins in 29 games. Utah will play its next game against Detroit on Saturday, December 27 at 04:30 Kyiv time.
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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