Olympiacos and Panathinaikos face each other for the third time in a month. The final of the Supercup in Rhodes and the premiere of the EuroLeague in OAKA ended with a celebration from the “Red and Whites”.

Now it’s SEF’s turn (October 30th, 8:15 p.m., ERT3, Match Center on Sportish), where the first eternal duel for the Basket League will take place on Monday evening. Let’s be excited to see them… because the Cup is just around the corner, the second legs in Greece and Europe, an additional third round derby added to the Championship this year and of course the playoff final.

Kostas Sloukas’ return to peace and friendship is of course the central reference point of this game. The national player enters the stadium of his former team as captain of Panathinaikos.

But he won’t play alone against Olympiacos. Basketball is still a team game despite the influence of great personalities on the court. And there are many pieces that need to be considered separately for an initial analysis of this new duel between the top teams.

One of them is the fight inside the racket. The performances of the players competing against each other in action, as well as their overall impact in defense and attack, will play a large role in the outcome of the victory.

Over the last 30 years, as the two Eternals became an inseparable duo in the hunt for titles, some of the biggest names in European basketball centers appeared under their two hoops.

The Fasoula and Vrankovic duels that once shook Thessaloniki were moved to the jamballs of the first great eternal derbies of the 90s and a carousel of huge center forwards, or pivots as we used to call them, began.

The big players Roy Tarpley and Dragan Tarlac on one side, Zeljko Rebracha and Dino Raja (in a “double” agent role) on the other, some unexpected cornerstones like Mike Baptiste and important signings like James Gist, a small center but with one Huge heart and skill (Kyle Hines) made history and of course they also took advantage of the presence of the impressive guards wearing the red and green jerseys.

Fal made the difference

In Olympiacos’ recent absolute dominance over the last two years, Mustafa Fal’s form has been dominant. The French center was an insurmountable obstacle for his “green” opponents, especially Giorgos Papagiannis, who was rarely able to assert himself against the 218 cm beast he chose in the summer of 2021, Giorgos Bartzokas.

It’s not just Fal’s points and rebounds that make the difference to PAO, but his overall presence. The Frenchman became a big cog in the “red and white” machine, distributing the ball in attack as a playmaker and playing dominantly at the post when the team wanted to rely on his long body.

Equally impressive, however, was Fal’s figure in the background. His ability to play defense very well in transition despite his height, even if he has to go wide to protect smaller players, proved to be a great advantage for Olympiakos, of course not only in the derby with Panathinaikos.

The same, perhaps a greater obstacle to the opponents’ advances and the duels with the big ones, was when the big Frenchman stayed in his place in the defense of Olympiacos and did not… chase the little ones around the perimeter.

The addition of Milutinov

The problem for Olympiakos was the change in behavior of the front team when Fal went to the bench due to fatigue or a foul. Hassan Martin and Livio, Joel Boloboi and Tarik Black did a good job (especially in pick-and-roll situations), but they lacked the volume and size of “Moose”, without which the “Red and Whites” were exhausted. Advantage inside the clubs.

This year, Bartzokas had chosen his central goal early on. He placed Nikola Milutinov next to Fal. The purpose of the simultaneous presence of two “towers” ​​was to not change the tension in the defense, as this is quite possible given the time division between the two seven-footers.

On the other hand, the different characteristics of the two big players in attack make them very difficult for any EuroLeague team to deal with. Even from Tavares-Poirier’s Real Madrid…

Fal’s injury did not allow the great duo to appear immediately. In fact, the first time we saw it in the way they will play this year was in the game against Efes. And Milutinov alone had no problem supporting the great line of Olympiakos and won the duels of the first derby with Panathinaikos. In fact, he managed to be named MVP of Matchday 4 of the EuroLeague.

Bastion Lesor

Panathinaikos initially wanted to score a treble against this duo. Ergin Ataman’s original plan was essentially based on the presence of Matias Lessor and the help that the Poles Balcerowski and Kostas Antetokounmpo would give him.

A risk from the start, because the two reserve forwards do not have the necessary performance and experience to meet the demands, especially in the EuroLeague, where the game is a click stronger and faster than in the rest of Europe.

In fact, despite starting as the third-ranked player, Antetokounmpo beat Balcherovski and in fact he started against Baskonia in the Panathinaikos five.

The international center has made progress but remains a player that offers solutions but not with stability and absolute consistency. His physical qualities are enormous, but he often seems to lose his sense of space. It might be better if he came off the bench to change the pace, especially because of his excellent timing on cuts and in general when playing above the rim.

On the contrary, the young Pole needs much more time to adapt to Panathinaikos’ standards. In fact, the published scenarios that he should move to Peristeri on loan (with a simultaneous return to the “Greens” of Chris Hugaz) to take Thompson’s place also underline the concern that exists in the clover surrounding Balcerovski.

Somehow, Matias Lessor is left almost alone to battle with opposing centers. His numbers are impressive (16p-7.6p in the EuroLeague), he was named the top player of Matchday 5, but the lack of help behind him keeps him on the field for almost 30 minutes and forces him to make several errors (mP). 2.6) due to fatigue.

However, the dynamic Frenchman is Panathinaikos’ top player, fighting like a beast even when facing a bigger center like the two Olympiacos.

His missed pass after Walkup’s missed three-pointer at the end of the regular-season EuroLeague derby… haunts him, but is also characteristic of the play of a very dynamic center who sets his body and his hands on fire.

A helping hand from Mitoglou

Who can correct Panathinaikos’ balance sheets? He doesn’t play cleanly in the “5”, but he has the size and ability to give special prestige to the high line of the “Greens”. Dinos Mitoglou makes a great duo as he has both the height (2.10) and the ability – aside from his relatively reliable long-range shot – to play just as well with his back to the basket.

In some cases, the international may also play in the “5” in the near future if Balcerovski’s departure is confirmed.

However, with Mitoglou at his side, Lessor doesn’t feel so lonely in the racket and the Panathinaikos opponent feels the “green” power in the racket.

Baskonia saw the two players score 46 points (out of a total of 95 PAO points) and fully understood how strong this duo is. Except that Baskonia’s front line was pretty weak with Moneke and Diop missing.

In contrast, in the derby with Olympiakos, both Fal and Milutinov are ready for the derby, even if Mitoglou’s cover is initially taken over by Alec Peters…