Basketball
Real is not played, it showed the weaknesses of Panathinaikos, which has a final against Villeurbanne
In the EuroLeague, where everyone beats everyone, Real Madrid loses to (almost) no one. Yiannis Fileris writes about the Queen’s transition from OAKA, the amazing first half of Nan, but also the “green” weaknesses. Panathinaikos travels to Lyon for the final against Villeurbanne
Really OAKA certified what it did with SEF. They are currently the top team in Europe and in a competition where anyone can beat anyone, they beat them…everyone. The 12 wins in 13 games clearly prove it. And also the extra time defeat against Fenerbahçe. He plays equally effectively in all styles of basketball, has the best defense and offense, grabs the most rebounds, gives the most assists and shoots the best (60% two-point shots).
On Tuesday, Olympiacos tried (and went) to play the game at their own pace and wanted to trap the Madrid players, but were unlucky because it was too far off target from distance. As we wrote, however, it was not just the failure of the “Red and Whites”, but also due to Real’s targeted defense, which knows how to hold its own at a slow pace with many hectic games.
As the first half progressed, Panathinaikos decided to play against the European basketball champions who love to play. Aggressive until the end, with lots of possession and even more shots. Yes, the amazing crescendo of the “Greens” in the second quarter roused OAKA, as they turned -9 into +5 with an impressive 14:0, three points from Nan and spikes from Lessor, but went into the game with a high score and with 45 They basically put butter on the queen’s bread.
For Real to lose such a game, Kendrick Nunn, the top player of the first half, would have to score another 20 points, and in the second half Lesor would have to continue to fly over Poirier and the rest would have to increase the tempo and momentum. To be fair, the third period started with strong defense from the “Greens” as Real missed the first five shots they attempted, Nan had two shots and Mitoglou a layup, which increased the score to +3 for PAO.
What followed was a rhapsody of the “Blancos”. Fabian Kosher became… a corset and very tight indeed, on Nan, who began to suffocate in the Frenchman’s overplay, Tavares took Poirier’s place and turned the painting into a minefield, Cabasso held the baton firmly in a leadership concert in the Hand, Dek came into the game strong, grabbing rebounds and threatening either long shots or drives, and three serious scorers showed their talent.
Only admiration for Real
Moussa shone in SEF, he also had a satisfactory third third in OAKA, Mario Hezonia in his general apotheosis before and after Jamball proved how much he was in Madrid compared to the… crazy boy who played in PAO and Sergio Yule reminded everyone who produces the best tangerines in Europe.
The three together were 9/15 out of three. That’s 60%! Not that the rest have gone back. Overall, Real achieved a shooting rate of 50% (13/26) from 6.75 m and even better (23/36) on two-point throws. With Panathinaikos in the lead, the Spanish signaled a general counterattack and achieved a partial 24-4 victory. The three points even came from Sluka at the end of the third period. Real cleaned up the game with summary proceedings. She started the quarter with five misses, then reached 10/12, ran away with +17 points and only had to keep the handicap and finally confidently take her twelfth victory.
How can you not admire this team? On the one hand, the maestro Cabasso and the giant Tavares in the racket, the veterans Yule, Rudy and Kosher (Rodriguez, stayed in Madrid) with the freshness of Musa, Dek and Hezonia. And from behind comes new blood, like 20-year-old Ediage. The youngster is getting time now that Yabuzele is out and Real are not forgetting about his future while they are by far the team only interested in titles.
Absences, but also weaknesses for PAO
Somehow Panathinaikos lost for the third time in a row. Pa,lepsi in Belgrade almost achieved a big double but couldn’t maintain its 10-point lead. In Istanbul against the Efes half he was surprised, started the chase and missed a very big chance. He had a great first half against Real. He definitely misses the wounded.
Papapetrou and Juancho cover “3” and “4”. A classic trio, apart from Grigonis, does not currently exist in the team, Mitoglou plays in red and seems tired as the only four, the rotation is low while the weaknesses remain, which may also come from the restructuring of the squad, due to the addition of Kendrick Nunn.
Kyle Guy is almost permanently out of contention, and now that Nav is gaining momentum, Slukas appears to be backing off. Of course, balance will come at some point, but until then Panathinaikos has to find a way to win some important games. Perhaps his biggest problem, as shown in three tough games in a row, was the lack of a reliable solution behind Lessor.
Ataman continues to give Balcherovski or Antetokounmpo options, but when Lessor is not on the field, Panathinaikos has a problem.
The many missed rebounds, both in Istanbul and in OAKA at Real, are of course not just a matter for the big players, but for the entire team.
Everything for everything in Lyon
With a record of 6-7, Panathinaikos has yet to lose the world but needs to get back to winning ways. An early final is imminent for the “Greens”, next Thursday in Lyon. Not in the Astroball, but in the brand new Villeurbanne Arena, filled with 12,000 spectators and waiting for two or three big ASVEL breakthroughs to break the deadlock of their poor start to the season.
However, if Panathinaikos really wants to change the situation and really get promoted, this game is one of the games they absolutely have to win (like they did against Alba in Berlin, for example). The victory will keep him within his goals and remain in the group of teams that will fight relentlessly to the end to get into the eight or even the play-offs.
Is it right to be burdened with stress from now on? But in the Euroleague, the teams that aim high live with it. Every game counts, don’t forget it…
Source: sport 24
I am a sports writer and journalist who has written for various online publications including Sportish. I’m originally from the UK but currently live in Toronto, Canada. I’m also an author on Sportish and have written several articles on a variety of sports-related topics.
On the evening of December 25 and the night of December 26, five Christmas games were traditionally held as part of the NBA regular season.
The most important match of the match day was played in Oklahoma, where the Thunder hosted San Antonio.
The home team started the game better and were ahead for most of the first quarter, but they missed a move 0:11 into the quarter, allowing Spurs to take the lead 41:36. Oklahoma was unable to take the lead after that, but San Antonio maintained its lead by keeping the game under control and eventually won 117-102.
The Spurs have won all three games against the Thunder this season, while Oklahoma has lost just two of the other 28 games.
The most productive player of the match was Fox, who brought 29 points to San Antonio, while Vembanyama also scored a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The Lakers played Houston at home and suffered a crushing defeat.
The fate of the match was decided in the first quarter, when the Rockets won by 12 points (25:37). Afterwards, they increased their advantage by completely controlling the course of the match and eventually won with a score of 119:96.
For Houston, Thompson scored 26 points and Shengyun had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Denver and Minnesota closed out game day.
The first half of the match ended in a draw. Neither team managed to take a lead of more than 9 points, and Denver entered the big break with a 2-point lead at 57:55. In the third quarter, the Nuggets made an attack of 6:0 at the beginning and 10:2 in the middle, reaching a 16-point lead, and at the end of the quarter they were ahead +15 – 90:78. The Timberwolves did not give up and made a 16:2 move midway through the fourth quarter, reaching a lead of 107:108. This gave fans a tense ending; Edwards hit a three-pointer 2 seconds before the siren, sending the game into overtime at 115:115. And there Jokic played a decisive role and scored 18 points in 5 minutes, allowing the Nuggets to win 142:138.
Jokic scored 56 points in the NBA on Christmas Day, falling just four shy of Bernard King’s record. Nikola also recorded a triple-double with 16 rebounds and 15 assists. Murray had a double-double with 35 points and 10 assists.
NBA. Regular season. Christmas Day, 25-26 December
New York – Cleveland – 126:124 (23:38, 37:20, 24:38, 42:28)
New York: Brunson (34), Hart (15), Bridges (12), Towns (11 + 14 rebounds), Anunoby (8) – start; Clarkson (25), Kolek (16 + 9 assists), Diawara (5), Hookporty (0), Robinson (0 + 12 rebounds).
cleveland: Mitchell (34 + 7 rebounds + 6 assists), Garland (20 + 10 assists), Merrill (11), Allen (7 + 9 rebounds), Wade (6) – start; Tyson (16), E. Mobley (14 + 9 rebounds), Hunter (13), Bryant (3), Ball (0).
Oklahoma – San Antonio – 102:117 (36:41, 24:28, 19:26, 23:22)
Oklahoma: Gilgeous-Alexander (22), Hartenstein (13 + 12 rebounds), Jaylen Williams (12 + 6 assists), Holmgren (10 + 12 rebounds), Dort (8) – start; Caruso (12), K. Williams (8), Wiggins (5), Joe (5), Wallace (5), Carlson (2), Barnhizer (0), Youngblood (0).
San Antonio: Fox (29), Castle (19 + 7 assists), Barnes (15), Cornet (6), Vassell (5) – start; Vembanyama (19 + 11 rebounds), Harper (12), K. Johnson (9 + 7 rebounds), McLaughlin (3), Sohan (0), Shempeni (0), Brian (0), Olynyk (0), Waters (0).
Golden State – Dallas – 126:116 (40:28, 31:30, 29:31, 26:27)
Golden State: Curry (23), Butler (14 + 9 rebounds + 9 assists), Moody (12), Dr. Green (7), Post (6) – start; Melton (16), Horford (14), Podziemski (13 + 8 rebounds), Jackson-Davis (10), Payton II (6), Richard (5).
dallas: Flagg (27), Marshall (14), Washington (14 + 10 rebounds), Nembhard (4), Davis (3) – starter; Williams (26), Christie (13), Thompson (7), Gafford (6), Caleb Martin (2).
Lakers-Houston-96:119 (25:37, 28:26, 21:29, 22:27)
Lakers: Doncic (25 + 7 assists + 6 turnovers), James (18), Reeves (12), Ayton (10), Hachimura (0) – start; Vanderbilt (11), Smart (6), Larevia (5), James Jr. (3), Thiero (2), Knecht (2), Kleber (2).
Houston: Thompson (26 + 7 rebounds), Durant (25 + 9 assists), Smith (16 + 7 rebounds), Shengyun (14 + 12 rebounds + 6 turnovers), Eason (13) – start; Sheppard (13), Capela (6), Adams (4 + 9 rebounds), Tate (2), A. Holiday (0), Davison (0), Green (0), Okogie (0), Finney-Smith (0).
Denver – Minnesota – 142:138 (STARTING 32:29, 25:26, 35:23, 23:37, 27:23)
Denver: Jokic (56 + 16 rebounds + 15 assists + 5 turnovers), J. Murray (35 + 10 assists), Hardaway (19), Jones (12 + 9 rebounds), Watson (9) – start; B. Brown (7), Nnaji (2), Valanciunas (2), Strother (0).
Minnesota: Edwards (44 + 6 turnovers), Randle (32 + 7 rebounds + 6 assists), McDaniels (21), Gobert (9 + 12 rebounds + 6 blocks), DiVincenzo (6 + 7 rebounds + 8 assists) – start; Reed (13), Hyland (11), Clark (2), Juzeng (0), Conley (0), Shannon (0).
tournament tables
Western Conference
Eastern Conference
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has written for various websites and magazines. I currently work as an author at Sportish, a news website that covers sports news. My main focus is writing about soccer, rugby and other sports in the world.
Head coach of “Kharkov Falcons” Valery Plekhanov He summarized the team’s 2025 results and talked about the preparations for the continuation of the season:
“Summing up the results of the calendar year, I want to congratulate all our fans on the upcoming New Year and Merry Christmas, wish our favorite team peace and good victories! “Kharkov Falcons” are the first players of this Super League season, so second place at the moment is a good result.
There are a few points we would like to emphasize separately. First of all, seven players from last season’s active squad won the Premier League together, but five of them never played in the Super League. Therefore, the experience they gained in the first half of this season is almost priceless. Secondly, Kharkiv Falcons are one of the two champion teams that did not play a single match at home. It’s very difficult when you’re not playing for your fans, you’re training in one gym, and you’re playing in a different gym every time, even on home tours. In these conditions, 4 defeats in 13 matches is a good result.
One of the most negative moments of this year was not being able to participate in the last four of the Ukrainian Cup. Unfortunately, we were a little unlucky in the draw. After an emotionally difficult and physically exhausting match with Krivbass, we did not have enough strength for the next match against Kiev-Basket in the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, our performances in the cup are over, but now we will be able to focus all our efforts on the championship.
Our main problem now is injuries. We have five injured players, three of whom have serious injuries that require a long recovery period. We’re about to get off to a very tough start to the new calendar season because the Falcons will be playing basketball six weekends in a row, which means six road trips with no rest time. If we could count on all twelve players in the squad at the beginning of the season, there will no longer be such a rotation. Therefore, all the responsibility and burden will fall on the players in the rankings. I hope they get over their injuries in the new year, recover from their injuries as soon as possible, return to work and help their beloved club properly represent Kharkiv in the Super League.
Despite the holidays, we have training scheduled almost seven days a week. “I really hope that by January 10 we will be a combat-ready team that can solve serious problems.”
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
On December 23, as part of the 1/8 final of the Romanian Cup, the Ukrainian derby was played between Bucharest and Dinamo. Vyacheslav Bobrova and “Fast” Alexandra Lipovoy.
Dinamo won the match 89:79, and the fate of the ticket to the next round was decided in overtime, as Rapid won the first match – 83:73.
The home players acted more accurately in extra time and won with a total score of 101:85 and advanced to the quarter-finals.
Vyacheslav Bobrov made a double-double in 33 minutes on the field, scoring 10 points (4/7 two-pointers, 0/1 three-pointers, 2/2 free throws), collecting 10 rebounds, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 2 fouls.
Alexander Lipovoy played 38 minutes, scored 16 points (1/2 two-pointers, 4/7 three-pointers, 2/2 free throws), collected 3 rebounds, made 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls.
Romanian Cup. 1/8 final. 2nd match, 23 December
Dinamo Bucharest – Rapid Bucharest – 101:85 Overtime (17:22, 28:12, 24:19, 20:26, 12:6)
Match record:
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
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