This time last year, Olympiacos Piraeus had already spread terror across basketball Europe.

A year later the picture looks different. Nobody is afraid of the “red-whites”, the reflection is intense, the world is worried and the future is not predicted to be easy. Giorgos Bartzokas’ composure is the safest thing there is in Piraeus at this moment. His recent statements at media day show his composure and that he supports his material and if he gets a player (he hasn’t said he won’t) it will be someone who will do his job and not just a transfer, over that can be discussed by journalists and the world.

With all of this, Olympiacos Piraeus is a team that is in danger of losing its confidence, if it hasn’t already. And this weekend even Baskonia was able to leave the Peace and Friendship Tournament smiling and victorious. The “even basconias“, it has nothing to do with the situation of the team from the Basque Country this year. Not even with the change of coach and the return of the man who is the most successful coach in their history. It has to do with this. Historically, Baskonia is the team that was the most tormented in SEF. Lots of defeats and poor performances. But now they’ve escaped…

And Olympiacos helped her escape a lot. With poor decisions and obsessions in attacks that had no logic or balance. Shame on Fal and Peters… And shame on the people who… played balls to see the game won by the worst player in that game, the opponent’s player. That’s what sport is like…

Alec and Guardian

Of course, when the game started, there was no escape in sight. On the contrary, actually… And I’ll also describe a scene to you: Ivanovic couldn’t bear to wait even a few seconds. As soon as he saw his players’ second turnover, which led to a Canaan layup and the score was 13-2, he called a timeout. Had another attack awaited his players, the game would have been suspended due to the need for television. But he was sure that they would make “Potatoes” again, he could not stand it and called them to sing them.

Baskonia went into the game as in the competition, but changed that after a while. Your picture is limited to five minutes. Responsible for the damage that the guests suffered at the beginning was a man who ate bread and had great evenings in Vitoria. He went into the game recklessly and took aim from everywhere. Peters was just the tip of a three-point iceberg that overwhelmed Baskonia.

The “Red-Whites” finished the quarter with a shot rate of over 50% from 6.75. And Bartzokas could imagine that his players played well up front and only got six points because they simply left rights and a lot of space and tried to apply pressure.

Baskonia had a defense that didn’t finish well. The home team had confidence in their two… goalkeepers, but Fal played too much and gave everything and Milutinov didn’t do enough as he still hasn’t recovered. They couldn’t cut everything. And the guests started the good shots. What could be clearer than that the Basques scored 50 (!) points at halftime and gained psychology from one point on?

The absolute nightmare

A little from Sendererrskis and more from Moneke (what kind of player is she?) helped enough to change the scene, forcing Olympiacos to load the pitch and forcing Fundedakis to scream to our ears: “Come and play defense.” “. It’s as if he’s screaming that he won’t score a basket if the opponent “builds up” a real attack. Not to mention that every time he screams, Olympiakos eats a basket nine times out of ten. And while the first half showed that Baskonia would find them in abundance, as soon as the safety connections ended with the basket, the “Red and Whites” began to make mistakes and carelessly look for solutions.

The second quarter was an absolute nightmare. Because what you read above is no longer valid. Ivanovic had not only woken up his players with that infamous draw, but had also managed to get them to take out his own basketball. By the time Papanikolaou hit a three-pointer with 12 minutes left in the half, Baskonia had tied the score at 6:31 in the second quarter. With the defense – Ivanovic and an incredible psychology when it comes to scoring. And of course Moneke should do whatever he wants…

The ball goes to Peter’s brother!!!

Olympiacos went into the second half with two “hot” players. One of them was the people who took it patriotically and came forward. On the other hand, it was Kanaan who started shooting from everywhere and kept the team in the game. Those two poles were also the reason the difference dropped to seven as the game entered its final stages. It was a great counterattack from Olympiakos that really picked up momentum in the final quarter. Everything was covered. But those who argue that there was absolutely no reason for the game to get to -18 and then run away are right. Because let’s be honest: if there had been a better prepared team in Baskonia’s position, such a game might never have happened.

Bartzokas played with Kanaan, Larentzakis and Walkup and the attacks in the last few minutes weren’t all executed as they should have been. To be fair, most of them. No peace. Even with accurate shots, they had the wrong “build.”

He was able to get the puck to Peters three times (playing or shooting in transition with Monecke or an under player), and instead we saw panicked threes from the under players. And finally, after a long, long time, the ball went to Peters for a 72:71 lead. Bad decisions followed again in the second minute, Larentzakis wanted to win the game with two shots, but Miller-McIntyre scored his second basket in a tragic night of the same evening and became the hero of the game. Olympiacos didn’t have a single short pass in the last seven tenths. And he did something extreme to Fal.

He doesn’t deserve it, but…

Olympiacos doesn’t deserve to spend nights like this, but no one is to blame. Aside from the summer build-up and injuries, it also depends on how you play. And actually finishing a game and having made a lot of bad decisions in a game where there is no room for error hurts even more.

Fal was touching, and so was Peters. It is also not possible for Kanaan to experience such an evening and lose the team. Without a stable point of attack, having two players with 23 and 22 points at your headquarters is a good way to win. But I repeat, there is an explanation for everything and now Olympiacos must find a way to take this terrible defeat off their shoulders.