The “My Way” of Olympiacos and the triumph of Greek basketball

As with every season opener, the most popular question to Olympiakos this year was: How far can the team go? The difference was that the organization had had a good year, returned to the elite and missed the EuroLeague final by a stroke, so expectations were higher.

In Piraeus the answer was clear. The goal was the top eight in the EuroLeague, with the Final Four and the three titles in Greece as the background. The already won super cup, the cup and the championship. Not much time has passed since the first statements and the media day and the red and white have already delighted their fans. They have seven wins in seven games, they “stomped” Barcelona and Real Madrid at home and the most important thing is that they did it their own way, also against logic. Or whatever, against what we consider “appropriate”.

Yes, in our eyes it was absurd that someone attacked Eddie Tavares head-on. And yet Olympiacos made it on Wednesday evening (19.10.). And he did it magically, showing that he no longer conforms but hits his opponents in a way they don’t expect.

Tavares, the man dubbed a “cheater” by many for the last three years, is the EuroLeague’s ultimate scarecrow. He didn’t make it in the NBA, but with us he’s in the heart of the racquet without the defensive three seconds and just scares everyone. big and small. The centers dodge him, the short ones don’t reach the end of the stretch, but that was a big challenge that Olympiacos wanted to take on. breaking stereotypes. Send a message.

Mustafa Fal attacked Tavares early and scored the first basket by bowling against him. Joel Boloboi wasn’t afraid of him. Shaquille McKissick was extremely aggressive against him, driving with speed, with anger, with determination, hitting and winning fouls and energizing his teammates. The short ones stun him, Slukas forced him to circle, Walkup saw he stayed inside and fired from 4 yards.

Olympiacos went to Madrid to win. And where everyone expected him to stick to the perimeter shot, he made 46 2-pointers (he made 29!) and 21 3-pointers. He won the rebound fight (35-43) and exited the Wizink Center triumphant. Bartzokas didn’t have Kostas Papanikolaou available and he won’t have him in Vitoria either, he saw Chus Mateo starting second with Hezonia (2m.06), Dek (1m.98) third and with Yabusele (2m.04) in four, held onto his own formation with Canaan alongside McKissick and won.

What can anyone say about Sasha Vezhenkov? Words are scarce to show the greatness of this athlete, who is averaging 22 points (64% on 2 points, 47% on 3 points, 82% on shots), 11.3 rebounds and 28.7 points on the rating system per 32 minutes Has. His numbers are to die for, his confidence is through the roof, the basketball he plays has been seen by few and, for now at least, Vezenkov is eligible to stay in Europe for another year to be matched in different terms until last year to prepare even better for his dream.

Others play basketball and it’s a good one

We expected it from Olympiakos. A team with body, with good chemistry, with good characters, with a coach who is becoming the best in Europe, a team that plays basketball at a high level and wins everywhere. What we didn’t expect was that we would see good basketball from the other Greek teams. And if Panathinaikos seeks and is sought, Prometheus, Peristeri, PAOK and AEK have all taken steps forward.

Prometheus made a list a star. He’s got last year’s A1 top scorer (Anthony Cowan), he’s got Lavrio’s leader (Vasilis Murato), he’s got a veteran regional player (Travis Simpson), a player from the NBA (Arnoldas Culboca, 14.5pts, 9.5 rebounds). in the first two games), a EuroLeague-level super scorer with 1/10 of his cache (Joe Young) and a EuroLeague (Nemania Dangubic), while also having Gikas – Kaklamanakis in the ace and five. The Patrinos won in Trento in the premiere and last night beat Gran Canaria, a team that has a record 3-1 in the Liga Endesa, with Joe Young scoring 34 points from 18 shots!

The Peristeri invested in Francisco, Denmon, Kaselakis, Bilan, kept Moraitis, got players Poulianitis, Juston, Davis, crushed Bnei Erzeliya at the inaugural Basketball Champions League and two nights ago swallowed the champion and remained undefeated (4-0). the Liga Endesa Tenerife of Marcelinho Huertas, Sasso Salin, Giorgi Sermandini and Ambromaitis, Dianier, Sastre, Cook, Doornekamp. With great basketball, spectacular.

PAOK endured a season that nearly destroyed them, but they stood up and changed their philosophy. Lykogiannis went from players like Mantzaris and Yankovic and from veteran Americans to super scorer Yannick Franke, to youngsters Jaylen Hunts, Tyler Pauli, Zakius Darko-Kelly, kept the great Nate Renfro and select Greeks (Tsiakmas, Slavtsakis, Kamberidis, Saloustros, Christidis). for specific roles. The 88-68 over the experienced Sassari made noise, the 53-25 of the second half delighted and Dikephalos continues to convince that he is doing something very valuable this year.

AEK, finally we saw how they lost in detail in Carciyaka, we saw and enjoyed them in doubles against Rezzo Emilia. Of course we saw her against Karditsa and Apollon Patras too, she has experience, talent, a lot of goalscorers and she also shows that she is better than last year. Tim Frazier is a top player surrounded by athletes who know their role and the organization seems to be better suited to him. If people support this effort, if Ano Liosia’s indoor game attracts more fans, then AEK will achieve great results.

Foreigners make the difference

There was a lot of discussion about the six or seven, about the 6+1 foreign positions. The Greeks protest, but the reality is one and cannot be disputed. Foreigners make all the difference as long as teams really invest in good basketball players, motivated athletes and ready to step it up a notch in the summer of 2023.

AEK brought a player from the NBA (Frazier), a player from the EuroLeague (Strelnieks), a player from the EuroBasket (Madsen) and good Americans.

Aris also found other boys, Notey and Goodwin. Karditsa invested in a high player who passed the Milwaukee Bucks (Javin DeLaurie), Lavrio will highlight Savion Flagg and ARJ Cole, PAOK rubs hands for Jalen Hunts, Yannick Franke, Zacius Darko-Kelly, Nate Renfro and Riley-Poley .

The dove and Prometheus went well beyond that. And so far they are all happy, happy, optimistic.