Panathinaikos and Olympiakos found two sides affected by absentees (Prometheus and AEK respectively) in the Greek Cup semifinals despite knowing they were favorites anyway. However, both applied more pressure than expected ahead of the win.

Panathinaikos’ victory over Prometheus in the first semi-final (85-68) seems easy given the final score. But that doesn’t tell the whole truth, as the Patras – who practically had a 7-player rotation – put a lot of pressure on the “Greens”. Accordingly, in the second semi-final, Olympiakos defeated AEK a little easier than the final 76-70 shows, but it doesn’t stop being pressured enough by the “Union”.

The two races went differently. Different types of basketball were played. However, they showed some things that were known en route to the finals.

Prometheus faster basketball, Nedovic and the big ones

Prometheus of 11 – but essentially 7 – players, having young Tanoulis, Bazina, Laios and Plota in the mission, knew he was lagging behind Panathinaikos in size. That’s why he decided that despite the low rotation he has, he has to run onto the pitch at every opportunity to surprise the “Greens” and not find an organized defense against him.

The Patras knew that in the presence of players like Papagiannis, White and Evans, but also Sant-Ross and Kaselaki, it would be difficult to be efficient in half-field situations, especially since they were only defeated by two great players (Agravanis and Hunt, both of whom were able to do that). diagnosed with coronavirus). So they ran… until they burst.

Prometheus found Panathinaicus a bit sluggish and took advantage of that. At the same time, he deliberately chose the post, often with the player marking the – mediocre shooter – Stefan Jovic. There he built up his good first third and escaped the goal. But then came the landing.

As long as Panathinaikos missed from the periphery, Prometheus was fine. Suddenly, however, Nemanja Nedovic went on fire and brought the “Greens” into play with 8 consecutive points (two threes and one twos). Somewhere there, Prometheus lost a bit of his mind, drawn to haste – rather than quick decisions – and the game turned.

From the third third Panathinaikos was more concentrated. He paced the game at the pace he wanted and watched the trio of Papagiannis, Evans and White (39 points and 26 rebounds all three combined) do all the damage en route to an easy win.

AEK’s slow pace and Vezenkov’s burst

In the second semi-final, AEK followed a completely different logic than Prometheus with 8 players. Since all of their own failures were in the periphery (Angola, Rautins, Pappas, Langford), the “yellow-blacks” decided to go into the match against Olympiakos at a very low pace, relying on the half-height teams and various tricks in defence. In attack, they gave the initiative to Dimitris Flionis and Kino Kolom, while also relying on the ball save and the initiatives of Ian Hammer.

AEK’s various tricks – like Kouzeloglou eventually taking over Sloukas – worked in defence, while in attack the brand worked on Mustafa Fal, as long as Olympiakos decided to defend with “ICE” and “Flat” on the pick and roll, that is, leave the French and give way to the guards of the “Union”. Flionis’ offensive style, Colom’s creations, and Hamer’s clever play kept AEK in play. But then came – and for AEK – the landing in the third third.

Olympiacos chose to defend with Fal more often with changes in AEK’s pick and roll – while the ‘Red-Whites’ sometimes switched off the ball and sent Vezenkov to defend the pick and roll instead of Fal, limiting AEK’s attack. Somehow, some collected defenses came out and the Piraeus team found an opportunity to run into the transition, quickly hitting AEK’s defense at the post before organizing. As a result, the difference increased and the game was judged.

AEK struggled throughout the game. In the end, he took advantage of Olympiakos’ relaxation and with two shots (Colom’s goal and Wokap’s goal) pushed the ‘Red-Whites’ away from really burdening them. In the end, however, he simply bowed to the quality and depth of Olympiacos.

The common denominator of the two “eternals” in view of the final

Panathinaikos and Olympiakos were involved in two completely different games. The “Greens” had to face a team that wanted to run, and the “Red-Whites” a team that wanted to pull the handbrake. Both decided the game with a breakout in the third leg, capitalizing on the class difference – and depth – with their opponents, who were hit by failures. To avoid misunderstandings: The “Eternals” were favorites anyway, only it was made even easier by the absence of the opponents.

A common denominator between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos was that they only had to step up their performance for a few minutes to win, no matter if the former were a little stressed at the end and the latter a little stressed at the beginning. What both have in common is that they know that tomorrow (February 20) final (5 p.m., ERT3 and LIVE from Sportish) will not be enough.

The two “eternals” prepare for the first final of the season, knowing that any moment of relaxation can prove disastrous, as demonstrated in their previous two clashes in the Stoiximan Basket League and EuroLeague respectively. And it will be interesting to see how they will handle this situation in the game between them.