Olympiakos proved superior to Panathinaikos in the final of the Greek Cup Final Four, returning from -12 and claiming victory (81-73) and thus the cup.

Showing character, trusting in their depth and the quality of their players, the Piraeus team won fairly, with Panathinaikos now facing an uphill climb. But where was the game judged?

The “hot” Nedovic struck right at the start

Olympiakos started the game thinking that Nemanja Nedovic should limit it. With this logic, Costas Papanikolaou attacked him. The logic was that the “red-whites” wanted to send the Serb to his left hand. Simultaneously, they played switches when he was shielded by power forward and “Flat” (the big man was left behind) when he was shielded by the middle. And in the last, the Serb hit a lot of damage, especially in the second period.

Nedovic finished the first half with 19 points and 5/11 shots. According to InStat Scout, all the shots he took were marked! Usually the class of Serb carrying Panathinaikos in scoring just spoke, using every second he found even the smallest space without being affected by 4 players going through his cover (Papanikolaou, Wokap, Dorsey, Ma .

Olympiacos was trapped for an hour

Olympiacos had a problem in defence. However, he had a bigger problem in attack as he didn’t have a player to draw him in attack apart from the excellent Sasha Vezenkov in the first half. Sloukas was closed well by the defense of Panathinaikos – who kept sending him into his right hand. Dorsey spent the entire second half on the bench, Fal failed to score against Giorgos Papagiannis.

Olympiacos got stuck in attack. Even worse for the “Red-Whites” was that at the same time their defense continued to be poor in the third period. Panathinaikos was well-read and despite Nedovic missing in the third period, he extended his lead, taking over solutions from Daryl Makon, who either scored or timed passes, with the ‘Clover’ hitting every possible miss. In the fourth period, however, the dates changed.

The change of defense and the double mark on Nedovic

George Bartzokas decided to change his defense after the 25th minute of the game. It would now apply the logic of screen switching. He didn’t want to let Nedovic and Makon find space any longer. The presence of Hassan Martin, who gave the defense a valuable seven, played a key role in the success of this decision.

At the same time, the squadron continued στον in Nedovi στην in defense, and the brand in attack. In defence, Olympiacos opted to first tag the Serb with overplay – not letting him take the ball – that is, wanting to tire him out until he eventually becomes the possessor. At the same time, she found a way to address him on the other side of the floor.

According to InStat Scout, Nedovic was directly or indirectly involved in a total of 70 defenses, more than any other teammate, followed by Okaro White at 65 and Howard Sand-Ross at 60. The “red-whites” wanted to wear the Serb down, tire him out and down and after they succeeded. And then they reached the finish line.

Woookup, Dorsey Dual Role and Key McKishick

The entry of Thomas Wokap instead of Costas Sloukas proved to be important for Olympiakos. The American was the one who committed to tagging Nedovic. At the same time, it was he who brought calm to the attack. Organize properly, distribute the game if necessary. According to Instat Scout, Wookup had 8 points but offered another 8 of his 4 assists. 3 of those assists came in the fourth period when Olympiakos stopped play.

While Wookup brought calm (and had +17 on the +/- system), Dorsey and McKissick brought something different to the attack. Dorsey was the one who got the ball when he needed it, who placed the shots he needed with personal actions when he needed them and of course the one who placed the biggest basket in the game.

McKissick took advantage of the fact that Panathinaikos didn’t have a good athlete to tag him. He was the one who breathed with two personal baskets while at the same time being the one who got Papagiannis’ fourth foul in the one-on-one game with the Greek center.

While all of this was seen, there was something that was not seen. And that was Dorsey’s dual role. Most people stood by the 21 points he scored. At the same time, the foreign guard was even better in defence. Notably, according to InStat Scout, he was the main defender in 8 instances against Panathinaikos. In those 8 possessions he didn’t concede a single point (!), which culminated in a great defense he played against Okaro White at the post in the fourth period.

Here is the corresponding shot table:

The defense that showed the path and weakness of Panathinaikos

There was a lot of talk about Panathinaikos’ 0/15 shots in the fourth period, which were a result of two things: Olympiakos’ defensive effort, but also the fatigue of the ‘greens’ as their guards didn’t have the strength. And that can be seen from a simple number: Of the 15 shot attempts by the “Greens” in the fourth period, only 2 were made in the “painted”. A post by White and a layup by Macon.

Here is the corresponding shot table:

The defense with changes from Olympiakos – who had fresh legs due to the depth – put the “Greens” in a difficult position. Exhausted, Nedovic and Makon didn’t have the strength to go all the way into the basket to create situations, so they compromised with long shots. At the same time, however, they didn’t have a clear head to hit the miss matches. Theoretically, Stefan Jovic could help here, but the Serb had a bad evening offensively, while Olympiakos protected him on the other side of the floor at the same time.

With Jovic out, Dimitris Priftis made a conscious decision. At the same time, he threw Makon and Nedovic – his two most gifted goalscorers – down – hoping to get something from them. However, the two had 2/16 shots (0/10 of which the Serb) in the second half.

The best and strongest team won

In the end, the best team that had the greatest depth and knew how to use it won in the final. Giorgos Barzokas theoretically took a big risk when he decided to withdraw Kostas Sloukas and not throw him back on the ground. His decision to have Wookup, Dorsey, and McKissick in their perimeter at the same time indicated that he wanted three of his four peripherals on the floor who score better on the ball (the other being Papanikolaou).

Coach Bartzokas wanted to take the game out of defense. He wanted Wookup’s toughness, Dorsey’s quick legs and ignorance of danger, athleticism and skill to play one-on-one with McKissick. And somehow he won in a game that left his leader (Slouka), his best defender (Papanikolaou) on the bench and had the team’s column (Fal) on a mediocre night. And he was right.

A lot can be said about how the game would go if Ioannis Papapetrou played or if Jovic was in better shape. But these are guesses. The two “eternals” still have a long way to go before their next duel, because unless something changes dramatically, they will face each other in the final of the Stoiximan Basket League. That’s when each case and “IF” disappear. For now, history has written that the best prepared and most complete team won in the cup final.