In front of the AEK guys, shoot and break the china

The anthem of AEK, which came to the fore again in the (football) news last Sunday in Peristeri, says it clearly…

“In front of AEK, guys, shoot and break the posts»!

Today, however, that particular verse needs a twist to reflect the occasion of the Limoges game (19:30, Cosmote Sport 4 And LIVE from Sportish).

Before AEK, guys, shoot and smash the china!

This poetically licensed fake doesn’t rhyme, but it rings true because, in addition to the snowballs in front of the Ano-Liosian Stadium, the “Queen” also wants to break the porcelains that the city of Limoges is famous for!

For the first, I appreciate that the snowplows and salt spreaders did their job, while the second obviously requires a good grade in the shots…

So here Limoges comes back to our country in the middle of the snow to continue winning their games with Greek basketball, only now they won’t find Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, Aris (as was the case in the past). and PAOK, but AEK, which he faces for the first time.

Ioannidis, Malkovich and the… cheating girlfriend!

Just kidding, if for sure, tonight’s soiree should be illustrated by one person, there is no doubt as to his identity, therefore…

Giannis Ioannidis, good time!

Here we come, as we used to say in the cinema!

We came here because the duels between Olympiakos and Limoges and Xanthos and Bozidar Malković are among the illustrated classics of European basketball!

They have existed and continued as such since the days when Olympiacos as a man had a mistress and even a home in Limoges, but the chick was naughty, unfaithful and usually spanked her, leaving him in awe of the best!

The games between them in the 90s write the history of a European “Clasico” which, beyond the nine games, also contains images and moments that have indelibly written in the books of history.

I remember their first date as if it were going to happen now, which wasn’t actually at the Peace and Friendship Stadium or the “Beaublanc” but in Patras, where Olympiacos are serving a two-game ban for in-game coin tossing ​​Has Real Madrid.

Paspali’s foul goal and three-pointer

I broadcast on ERT this first game of the playoff series, which turned into a thriller that already foreshadowed what was going to happen next…

The calendar showed March 11, 1993 when Piraeus, who had returned to the Champions Cup after years and struggles, prevailed thanks to Paspali and even in two clicks 70-67: Zarko scored a foul goal first (67-64) after sticking him (Defense Knife and his roommate in the National Yugoslavia Missions) Yuri Zdovc and clearing the laundry with a terrible three-pointer with three seconds left.

But come what fate had in store for Paspali…

The Patras hero was lucky enough to be the ‘Homme Fatale’ (the fatal man in the language of the ‘pourquades’, as Ioannidis called them) in the two away games.

steal Bilba and the… bully the line

In the second game he scored 27 points but in a decisive attack he was robbed of the ball by (later AEK player) Jim Bilba and Limoges won 59-53 and equalized the series…

Two nights later, gruesome fate marked Zarko again, who stepped onto the line with a score of 58-58 after the miss of (the late, later President of Limoges) Frédéric Forte, the brawler and…that was it!

In the next stage, Yuri Zdovts (60-58) scored, while in Olympiakos’ final attack the threesome, which Paspali hit like a prayer, failed to find the target and the red-whites drank the hemlock of elimination.

As a result, Limoges reached the Final 4, which by a devilish coincidence took place at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, where “basketball is deadas retired Benetton Treviso and later PAOK coach Petar Skansi said in a foreword to Sins.

In the semifinals of Holy Tuesday, the French team defeated Real by 62:52 and after 48 hours they beat the Italians to the canvas with a score of 59:55 to take the Againstallodds throne and bring the sport to a new logic.

Malkovich’s style and handball

In fact, this style that Božindar Malković introduced, consolidated, reduced to a science and established with axes, the slow pace, the delay in the appearance of attacks (“Delay Basketball”) and the suffocating defense that exceeded the limits of the foul has left its mark on the layers of European basketball.

The Limoges model, who insisted on taking the mustard out of the fly at every stage, has been capturing humans and Cosmaki for many years and there’s no doubt that after Jugoplastica’s all-out basketball, Boza can boast about that too.

After all, he had told me in one of our interviews: “I don’t care what people say and at the end of the day I would become a handball coach if I liked 100 point basketball and players who take thirty shots in every game.!

The bottom line is that for several years (even after the attack time was reduced from 30 seconds to 24 seconds), the style of Limoges remained as resilient as the city’s famous china…

Barclay’s statement and the “JordanRules”

It was back then (late ’80s to early ’90s) that the Detroit Pistons won back-to-back NBA titles with a battle tank of their tough defense that included the infamous “Jordan Rules,” so he came along and tied the knot.

Only the affair was carried out much more smoothly on the other side of the Atlantic: As Charles Barclay put it at the time: “before you play with me her Pistons, you had to say hello her people in your family, yes her kissS and yes her say how much her You loved in this life”!!!

How difficult Limoges was for Olympiakos back then can be seen in the results as the French won seven of the nine games between them, even with a 6-0 streak, twice defeating the SEF Fortress and (for the recovery and even celebration of his defensive doctrine) kept Olympiakos below 60 points six times!

“Congratulations Giannis”!

As if those tricks Limoges did to Olympiacos weren’t enough, the “blonde” (who suffered six of the seven defeats while Ivkovic experienced one) had to confront Malkovic’s overbearing irony…

Obsessed with the logic of “Take him to your wedding to tell you next year.” the future coach of Panathinaikos (whom he led to the European throne in 1996) swayed, swaying, trembling, buttoned and unwrinkled in his cross suit, and with that classic gait of … Napoleon (as Michael Koch later christened him) squeezing the hand of Ioannidis, who sells him the same fairy tale every time…

“Congratulations Giannis, you have a very good team”!

The magic of the Panathinaikos, and Dakuris… shadows

Unlike Olympiakos, then ravaged by Limoges, where Giorgos Sigalas was frantically chasing Michael Young, Panathinaikos exorcised his demons twice: first in the 1993/94 season’s playoffs, 2-1 (68-75, 59-48, 87-87). -73) and a year later in the final of the Final 4 in Zaragoza (91-77).

In the 1985/86 season, Limoges blocked Ari’s path to the final stages of the Champions Cup (81-89, 105-87) while beating them 103-91 in the small final of the 1990 Final 4 in Zaragoza. Richard Dacouri was on duty to Intercept Nikos Galis on his flights!

The French also have eight games against PAOK, who have never faced them in a final or semi-final, but one of their encounters was something special…

I am referring to the 1992-93 Champions Cup game in Alexandria where the Doubleheaders of the North won 67-57 with the unexpected hero Giorgos Kouklakis…

The surprise with Kouklakis and Prelevich’s shots

Cliff Levingston, who had traveled to Washington for the traditional visit of the NBA champions (Bulls) to the White House, was absent at the time, but Duda’s ear wasn’t sweating…

He suggested Haniotis in his place and the job was wonderfully and beautifully done!

In the revenge at 60:57, Ivkovic asked Prelevic to miss the second shot so that the offensive rebound could be claimed and PAOK had the opportunity to equalize three-pointers…

Bane hit both and when asked about it, he gave a legendary answer…

“I’ve practiced putting all my life Ta shot and whatS Shots, just out of habit I couldn’t miss”!

Giannakis and the Shirt of Galis

Years have passed, Limoges has retreated from the limelight, but history does not fade…

In the 2015/16 season, the French team met Olympiakos again in the first phase of the EuroLeague, while two years earlier (May 7, 2013), as part of the events, they had honored Nikos Galis with their presence in the game against Aris for the retirement of the Jerseys #6 and the renaming of the Hall des Palais des Sports to “NickGallisHall”.

Back then, Panagiotis Giannakis was on the bench with partner Nikos Linardos and player Angelos Tsamis on the French side, which has five European trophies under its belt (a league, a cup and three Korat!).