The explosion of Dorsey and the 2 passive points in 15 possessions of Olympiakos

Olympiacos returned to wins. He had to “spit” blood against Baskonia and have a blast in the last three minutes but eventually clinched the win 72-62 in Vitoria, breaking his negative streak.

The “Red-Whites” found them obscure against the Basques. Their attack had – again – problems. At the same time, however, Olympiacos’ defense lived up to expectations, confirming that the Piraeus team are finding their rhythm at the back of the court.

Olympiacos wasn’t impressive. However, the match went rhythmically as it wanted, taking Basconia out of the game and claiming the win.

The defense reminded me of Olympiacos

One thing should be clear in advance: Olympiakos was not good offensively. The fact that he finished the game with 13 assists and 14 errors shows only part of the problem of the “red-whites”. Except for the first 5 minutes of the game – when they made steady attacks and a lot of hand-to-hand passes and kept touching the ball on the post – the team’s attack in 5v5 (forgiving) was mediocre. But the problem was what he was doing on the other side of the floor.

So remembered Olympiakos on the back of the floor… Olympiakos again. The “Red-Whites” took just 0.82 points per possession from the Basques in their best performance of 2022, but also ranked 4th this season. However, that wasn’t impressive while they conceded just 2 points in 7 possession situations (one on one) and 0 (zero!) points in 8 pick and roll situations where the opposing guard shot, according to InStat Scout.

In 15 possessions in which Olympiacos forced the Basque regional division to attack after a dribble, they usually conceded just 2 points, with Basconia having 1/11 shots in such a situation. That well-placed shot came from Wade Baldwin in his team’s final attack as all was judged. Here is the corresponding graphic:

There is no doubt that Basconia is not a giant. That she has her own problems with her offense anyway as she generally finds it difficult to create situations with her peripherals as Baldwin, Granger and Peters aren’t playing well this year. Still, Olympiacos’ figure is impressive. Also impressive is that he finished the match with 13 steals, from which he earned a total of 15 points. In a match tied for 37 minutes, those points were worth their weight in gold.

The quality of Dorsey

Defending, Kostas Papanikolaou’s shots, Vezenkov’s flashes and Dorsey’s entire game held Olympiakos. In the end, however, it was Dorsey’s quality that made the difference, which underscored the importance of a team having a player capable of hitting — and most importantly — making, difficult shots.

Dorsey generally had a lot of ups and downs in the game while struggling on defense. The “Red-Whites” generally had a problem scoring in pick-and-roll situations, having only scored 10 points in 17 possessions up to 37′ (8 points on the ball operator’s shot and 2 with the big one going into the basket rolled ), so only 0.58 points per possession. But things would change.

When the score was 60:60, Dorsey took the ball – which had just missed the floor – received a screen and shot after a dribble to make it 60:63. In the next phase, Fontecchio missed a floater, Dorsey ran in surprisingly, won the foul and made it 60-65 with 2 shots. Then, together with Wokap, they stole the ball, ran to the open field and the foreign guard found Vezenkov to 60-67. During the following Basque attack, Dorsey stole the ball. In the development of the phase, Vezenkov missed a three, but Fal got the rebound and found Dorsey, who scored with a three to make it 60:70.

All of this was done in 1 minute and 21 seconds. From 37-10 to 38-31, every possession of the game was the hallmark of Dorsey, who found the moment to take the lead after replacing Olympiakos in defense and attack. The expatriate guard may still have weaknesses in his game, he may have a problem when he’s tagged hard (because then he grumbles and gets out of rhythm), he may lag behind in creation because he doesn’t see a field. But like all good scorers, he can catch fire at any time. And that makes him unique.

In the right direction

In fact, Olympiakos started to regain his identity in the game against Real. Against Basconia, the confirmation just came that everything is slowly leveling off, especially on the back of the ground. There is still a road ahead of the ground, but the main weapon of this year’s Olympics is its defense. With her he stays in the game and only with her can he go far this year.

Things are not going well for the “red and whites”. The back-up center problem behind Fal still remains, something that was also seen against Basconia where Martin and Jean-Charles passed and didn’t touch. The attack still has moments to lose. But the most important thing for the Piraeus team is that after this victory, calm will return.