Each year, the week in question is usually the most difficult for the top teams in the Euroleague. Those who expended energy, celebrated (or were disappointed that they lost) capturing the cup are…vulnerable to gels.

All of Real went to Kaunas and scored just 47 points against Zalgiris. But what courage did the Madrilenians (who already have 20 wins) show when they were beaten by Barcelona a few 24 hours ago, at a time when they believed they would win the Copa Del Rey.

The luck of Olympiacos, who seemed to have turned off their batteries at the festivals after their triumph in Dyo Aorakia, is that they also played with a… cup winner. Armani also came from winning the cup after actually playing one more game (in Italy they have Final Eight).

On the other hand, the flame for victory, the SEF who remains almost invincible (one loss in 12 games), Mc Kisik who ignited the fights and Sloukas who entered the game after the buzzer beater against Efes two consecutive big threes At the best moment they changed the course of the game and put Olympiakos where he wanted.

The 15-9 not only keeps him strong in the octave, but also poised to take home field advantage in the playoffs. Olympiakos have ten games left, half at home, it’s clear his prospect is heading towards the 21 wins that will likely see him finish 4th. Despite suffering two losses against Piraeus this year, Milan still leads in third place with +2 wins.

Yes we know that, we have a long way to go even though there are still ten games left to finish the regular season. But when Bartzokas’ team starts and wins, even if they don’t play well, they can only get better.

Stuck and trapped

Olympiakos started stuck, caught in Armani Milan’s already very tough defence, and made… Aman a basket. The Italians had closed all the corridors, they didn’t give a single free kick and if Fal hadn’t taken the ball twice and put it in the basket like I want it would have been even worse than the meager 7 points he scored. “Red and White” team. With 2/14 shots (0/6 3s) and five penalties, the fact that Armani was on just 8p by the end of the half was a blessing.

Piraeus survived thanks to their own defense (Milan had 0/5 threes in the first half) and found the one-on-one solutions first from Mac Kisik (the well-known dribbling of hesitation and then attacking the basket). and then got a foul from Kostas Sloukas who killed his opponents and although the difference reached +12 they managed to get closer.

The first three from the corner came from Vezenkov and Olympiakos could even take the lead with a little more caution as he made mistakes, now Milan (9v10 from Olympiakos) and it wasn’t just the Italian team he stole eggs and came as a surprise .

Low score, with tragic percentages from them, two tired cup winners who finally had to resolve their differences in the second half…

The picture didn’t seem to change in the third period, although Olympiakos began to consistently mark the misses in the Italians’ defence, where he was usually big and small. The ball went in, the “Red-Whites” seemed calmer in attack, but Hall’s two threes early in the quarter kept the Milanese in front of goal.

The two threesomes from Sloukas

Bartzokas had to shuffle the cards. First, he called for a defense with as many contacts as possible. Holz the Italians, Holz and the Piraeus. The format that ended up being the solution was with Sloukas on the “ace” and McKissick on the “3”. The Greek playmaker looked for his hand throughout the game. The ball didn’t do him any favors, he found the iron and Olympiakos might have found a basket in the racquet, but it suffered from distance.

Milan persevered, although Olympiakos initially equalized with 4 consecutive points against Vezenkov and took the lead for the first time with 6:50 to go. A little later (6:14 at the end) it was a draw and Sloukas tried again. He had 0/3 threes up until then, but the big ones aim for the big ones. Two consecutive threes from the top and the difference suddenly rose to +6, with SEF getting up as Olympiacos seemed to make the crucial move.

McKissick put out a lot of energy. He scored with dynamism, helped, stole balls, distributed assists, created what Bartzokas demanded. Along with Sloukas, they gave Olympiakos the momentum they needed throughout the match to defeat the powerful Milan and claim a great and valuable victory.

A phase also shows how Olympiacos played in the second half. McKissick shoves his opponent, the ball is claimed in midfield and out of nowhere Vezenkov appears to escape surprise. He dives, saves the ball and sends his team back on the attack.

Somehow he didn’t feel that way anymore, alone and Mustafa Fal, suffering through the entire Italian front line, played the defense short, big, in the pick and roll, on the threesome, an amazing center that finally made the difference in terms on Armani. The push for a contract extension continues…

In the end he did everything

Olympiakos scored 28 points in the final period, three more than in the first half. He only lost a two-pointer (6/8), had 2/6 three-pointers, and mostly circulated the ball properly (6 assists while he’d given 7’s up to 30), something Bartzokas insisted on so his players wouldn’t pounce on their opponents.

Milan went five minutes without a basket, Olympiakos made a lovely 16-3 and clinched a lovely win which they wanted long before the crash, bagged it and continued.

A visit to Munich next week for the game against Bayern puts him in the mini-marathon ahead of him next month. However, it drives fully equipped. And with victories (15 in total) and with the psychology that comes straight from winning the cup and the great dominance against one of the toughest teams in this year’s Euroleague, like Armani Milano.

PS: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war that started on Thursday, we still don’t know when and how it will end. The international community is preparing for tough sanctions against Russia, especially in economic terms. A general embargo also means sporting sanctions (as was the case with Yugoslavia in 1992).

Only EuroLeague currently has three out of 18 Russian clubs participating in the tournament, with CSKA Moscow even playing a significant role in everything and everything. On the other hand, if Russia is generally isolated from the West, there is no access to Moscow, Kazan and St. Petersburg, then obviously it will be very difficult …

Watch Game Night for Olympiacos’ big win: