The day before yesterday (Saturday), in the wake and aftershocks of Olympiakos’ defeat against Fenerbahce, “Fos ton Spor” appeared on its cover with the catchy title “Something is missing…”

The front cover was illustrated with a photo of Fal with his back turned…

If it is safe and sound what was missing had to be revealed in a short time, then perhaps the answer was given yesterday afternoon in Pylaia…

What was missing was the so-called triple-double!

Did I write triple-double?

A monstrosity Triple-double figure

I’m wrong and hasten to correct: As the Americans also say in such cases, that was actually a monstrous triple-double number.

It’s called monstrous!

In fact it was like that, because hell, a classic center with a 7’4″ boy with (points, rebounds and) assists is not the most common thing in the world and besides it’s happening for the first time in Greece.

I mean, it’s the first time a center has done it, but – to be fair – three other players who have been life and death in the racket have done it before: less all-rounder Fanis Christodoulou and more power Forward Sasha Volkov in the 1994 Olympiacos-Ampelokipoi game and Tory Braggs in the Aris-Marousi game, which was decided in overtime.

As you know, I’m very secretive about this case and if sports reporting were a university course, I would have gotten a master’s and a PhD in no time!

Fridriksson and… Jokic

On the 19th of last month, I wrote (or more precisely rewritten) such a topic here on the occasion of Elvar Fridriksson’s triple-double in the Galatasaray-PAOK game.

I noticed then that Fridriksson became… Westbrook, and today I emphasize it even more.

Fal, who became Jokic!!!

Yes, journalistic exaggerations are obviously at work here, which can even reach the limits of sacrilege, but in any case the “Crocodile” of Olympiakos followed in the footsteps of his Serbian counterpart, who also happens to have triple-double figures for breakfast.

He probably has them as hay for the horses he breeds in his stable in Sobor!!!

Perfect 10 and with a ton!

So yesterday in Pylaia, in the absence of Nikola Milutinov, “Moose” shook the bench in the air, achieved a treble after four and a half years and entered his own glory and glory in this… pantheon!

Fall, who stayed on the floor for 35 minutes and 33 seconds, scored 10 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out 11 assists.

He already wears the number 10 jersey, so his performance was definitely a perfect 10 and a ton!

Um, the other one? While his last name (case) in English is “fall” And “fall”yesterday the French center changed its meaning…

“Fall” means “Go up” And “Anode”Even if – to call it a test bet – most of Olympiacos Piraeus’ games this season are offered for bets on “Under”!

Four assists in three games

By the start of the game against PAOK, Fal had given a total of four assists: none against AEK, three against Kolossos and one against Panathinaikos, but yesterday he lost his temper with all that entails.

He is considered a good passer due to his positioning, blocking and size and has proven he can break the ball against drops and under pressure, but yesterday’s performance falls on the moon phase.

During his third season in Greece, Fal’s individual record in assists was the six he distributed on January 23, 2023 against Peristeri, followed by the four with Aris (April 20, 2023) and with Panathinaikos (June 4, 2023, first final ). ) and with Apollo of Patras (May 11, 2022).

The record is seven in Kaunas

In the five games he has played in this year’s EuroLeague, he has averaged 2.2 assists, with seven out of 16 assists, which he surpassed last year in Kaunas (Zalgiris-Olympiakos) (72-74), where Piraeus with a basket from Sasha Vezenkov got away with six seconds.

After the seven most recent passes, his next best performance is the five he made in the 2021-22 season with Maccabi and last year (2022-23) with Panathinaikos.

I’ve already mentioned Jokic, and in order not to leave any gaps in the narrative, I’ll point out that the Serbian center now has 123 triple-doubles to his name, which he has achieved in eight of his nine seasons in the NBA.

Jokic’s frequent orgies and the Sycharikis of Bartzokas

Of these, he distributed the most assists on December 28th in the Nuggets’ game against the Rockets, in which he showed 19-12-18, while he dished out two more times against the Bucks (February 15, 2018) and the Suns (May 5). played , 2023) “he wrote” on 15.30.17 and 17.30.17.

He’s cool, isn’t he?

Despite his rush after the defeats against Panathinaikos and Fenerbahce and due to injuries, Giorgos Bartzokas did not show much enthusiasm for yesterday’s historic performance…

“I’m really happy for Fal, he had to play a lot because of the absence of Milutinov and Sikma, so I congratulate him.” he said on camera after the game.

I imagine he would have given it to him in the locker room and life goes on…

Fal (did not) comment on his monumental achievement…

I put the negative particle in brackets because on August 19 last year, in the middle of France’s preparation for the World Cup, in which they failed miserably, he spoke abstractly about his ability to distribute the ball and create phases .. .

Gober, Milutinov and the twin towers

By the way, Fal is getting used to environments with twin towers: in the French national team with Rudy Gobert and in Olympiakos with Nikola Milutinov…

He then explained in an interview with fellow journalists what, how and why he does it…

“Teams are making a lot of traps now lowpost manage with that chooseN‘ roll This creates more opportunities for regional actors. If they fire the shots, it’s not a problem. If Nando de Colo and Nikola Batum are not on the pitch here in the national team, the other players have to become creators. Eli Okobo is a very good goalscorer and I am challenged to create situations by distributing the ball correctly.”.

“Am I explaining it well?” as the forgiven Nikos Alefantos asked himself smugly!

The Olympiacos plan and his playing eye!

On the whole, Fal is right: he has it, he likes this creative process and yesterday he took the opportunity to indulge in a crescendo, following exactly Barzokas’ instructions…

The creation lecture was a consequence of the instruction of the Olympiacos coach, who had asked him to take the ball to the post and behind the screen to mark the cuts of his teammates and especially Kostas Papanikolaou in the stick.

However, 11 assists is a very impressive number, as someone told me: “There are games in which he gave three or four assists and left us speechless with his invention..

Fal, as strange as it may seem for a center, is a pass-first center and his eye is constantly focused on finding a teammate and feeding them…

After all, this is one of the differences between him and Milutinov: he usually looks for the pass first, while his Serbian teammate, when receiving the ball, does a few dribbles to control the opponent’s defense and then decides what and how to do it, with first priority to move towards the basket.

“I’d rather pass, instead of nailing”

Two years ago, the French center said in an interview with NOVA on the occasion of the five assists in the game against Maccabi: “I would rather pass than fail” and then Yannis Fileris, with a dose of sacrilege, compared him, as he emphasized, to Nikola Vuitsic!

Little… Vujic

By the way, and to mitigate the sacrilege, the Croatian center, who in his youth was known as “the next Kukoc” (!) and wore the Olympiakos jersey for two seasons (2008-2010). Vučić achieved two of the rare triple-double figures in the EuroLeague…

He achieved this for the first time on November 3, 2005 in Maccabi’s game against the Polish Gdynia with 11 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists and on November 30, 2006 he repeated this against Olympia Ljubljana with 27-10-10.

Well, yesterday Fahl also talked about a draft combination of Jokic and Vujicic!