Euro League
The 25 points from an assist by Slukas, the “hot” Larentzakis and the role of Boloboi
Stefanos Makris analyzes Olympiakos’ big win over Barcelona with the help of InStat Scout. Slukas, who creatively wore the “red-whites”, the decisive boloboi and Larentzakis, who solved the mystery at the end.
Olympiacos made a perfect start to the EuroLeague. The ‘Red-Whites’ put on an excellent performance against Barcelona in Barcelona and clinched a big win with 70-80, showing their ‘teeth’.
Olympiakos showed character. He withstood the pressure from the Catalans, confident in his size in every position, saw Sluka keeping him creative and showed he had found the ideal teammate in the person of Boloboi and ended up enjoying Larentzakis in a role of executioner.
Sportish presents with the help of InStat Scout how the “Red-Whites” achieved victory.
The Slukas – Walkups and the role of Boloboi
In a game where shooting after dribbling looked like an endangered species for both teams (just 6 points on 12 possessions on ball handler pick-and-roll shots for Olympiacos, 6 points on 9 possessions for Barcelona), Olympiacos had Luck has two players in the squad who could see a phase ahead: Kostas Slukas and Tomas Walkup.
The two guards combined had 14 assists (Slukas 9 and Walkap 5), with Olympiakos earning a total of 38 of their 80 points thanks to their own creation. Nearly 50% of the team’s points come from assists from its two guards. But actually Slukas was the one who determined the developments in the field of creation.
The National Guard gave away 25 points with his 9 assists, while also being the best of his teammates on the +/- system with +14. At the same time, however, it is now clear that he has found the pick and roll player he was looking for in Joel Boloboi.
The experienced tall finished the game with 12 points and 7 rebounds. He was the one who set up Pick and Roll with Sluka and Walkup. However, the reason he’s valuable isn’t so much because he powerfully rolls to the basket and jumps high. The reason he’s special is that he can do what’s called the “short roll” where he stays 4 meters behind the screen and either hooks or passes to the boundary (as he did at one point in the 4 period , finding a clear shot at Lorentzakis).
Boloboi is not a bad passer. But he’s a good passer, creating good ball circulation and creating situations for his teammates, which was evident at Barcelona.
Boloboi’s Defense and Vezenkov-Peters’ +13
In reality, of course, it is clear that Boloboi was the one who – along with Walkup and Papanikolaou – determined developments in defense. With Giorgos Bartzokas opting for a defensive move early on – having not feared the Catalans’ follow-up since Mirotic’s absence – the former CSKA man was crucial in the way he defended on the touchline.
According to InStat Scout, Boloboi had a defensive rating of 70.59 (points his team concedes per 100 possessions with him on the floor). With the exception of McKissick, who only had 50 points in the relevant category (but only participated in 4 minutes), no one had a lower number.
At the same time, there is one more detail that made the difference for Olympiacos. The simultaneous use of Peters and Vezenkov. According to InStat Scout, the two Olympiakos power forwards co-existed on the floor for a total of 15 minutes. During that time, Olympiacos had +13 in the +/- system.
Formations with these two on the ground in the front positions give Olympiakos a rare combination: good distance in attack and size in defense. It is no coincidence that some of the best moments of the “red and white” happened with these two on the floor. There has been a lot of talk about them coexisting well at the power forward position. But the main thing is that they can play together.
Larentzakis and the great figure that sealed the victory
Olympiacos extended their difference in play with the quintet of Sluka, Kanaan, Papanikolaou, Vezenkov and Boloboi in the 3rd period as they included Barcelona. But it was Larentzakis who sealed the win and gave him something different in the fourth period.
With Barcelona at one point and then forced to close their defense more and more inwards to deal with Sluka’s pick and roll with Boloboi, it was Larentzakis who found the free kicks after a good move off her ball and the legs of the Catalans with cut the “Red-Whites”, who at this moment are playing with three guards (Sloukas, Walkap, Larentzakis) alongside Peters and Boloboi.
In the end, with Barcelona putting on tired Slukas in defence, Giorgos Bartzokas put his finishing touches on the floor: a back five of Walkup, Larentzaki, Peters, Vezenkov and Boloboi (once replaced by Black). That is, a five with enough size to train the Catalans in defense, with Walkap stealing balls, while in attack he had three players to open the field (Larentzakis, Peters, Vezenkov) who did not allow Barcelona to Spaces of their own size under the basket to close. Then two more threes from Larentzakis sealed the win.
A big win and good omens
It’s still too early to celebrate. There are still 33 games left in the regular season of the EuroLeague. But it must not go unmentioned that Olympiacos achieved a huge victory while also showing excellent signs in only their 3rd official game of the season – and their first in this composition with 7 foreigners in the 12th round.
The fact that Olympiacos won in a game little executed by their dribblers (Slukas, Kanaan) and attacking mainstay (Fahl) says a lot about the way the team is set up. About how he now has more options on offense thanks to the immediate chemistry Boloboi and Slukas found and how Peters opens the field. And above all about how Boloboi and Schwarz immediately gave the defense a little more.
The calendar shows October 8th. The season still has 8 more months of basketball. However, the first sample of Olympiakos was excellent. The sequel will be very interesting.
Source: sport 24
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
Mustafa Fal has delivered a monstrous performance in international matches and Vassilis Skoundis is tackling the problem, inevitably involving the first teacher of the art, Panagiotis Fassoulas.
“The gypsy saw his generation and his heart rejoiced,” says a proverb whose meaning fits the occasion… I mean, the occasion of Fal seeing the other Fal opposite him and enjoying him normally and in accordance with the law!
Let the necessary recommendations be made…
One of them is Mustafa Fal, who was born in Paris on February 23, 1992, he is French, he plays in his country’s national team, his hat comes from Senegal, he has been looking since he was 2.18. He is in his third season at Olympiacos…
Yusufa and Taco
The other person who competed against him yesterday is Youssoufa Fal, who was born in Dakar on January 12, 1995, is a Senegalese with French nationality, has a height of 2.21 m and is competing in Villerban for the third consecutive time…
There is of course the much wilder Taco Fal, who was also born in Dakar on December 10, 1995, spent three seasons in the NBA, is now sizzling in China and has had his head tickling the feet of God since he was 229 cm tall!
Mustafa, Yusufa and Tako have no relationship or kinship between them: they are synonymous, apart from the coincidence that ensures that they are all three kilometers long!
The triple-double figure in Pylaia
He had attacked the Olympiacos central defender again on the 11th of last month, on the occasion of the triple-double he scored in the game against PAOK in Pylaia, rare in our area, but he wanted to make us laugh for a while as his only goal!
At first he missed Yannis Fileris who treated him properly, but I also have some stitches for his fur!
To say my sin, I laughed and liked Fileris’ pun on… Wrong!
Fasoulas and… Lumidis
In any case, “Pani” was like…Lumidis in the field of coffee roasting, plus he made heads turn with soft nails with his unique and unparalleled skills.
To paraphrase Lumidis’ advertising slogan: in our case it was “Everyone in their own way and Fasoulas in their caps“!
Since the conversation broke out, the experienced PAOK and Olympiacos international center has recorded five triple-doubles with points, rebounds and blocks, which are of course rarer than those that include assists.
He scored the first of these goals on October 15, 1988 (PAOK-Panionios) with 18 points, 18 rebounds and 13 blocks.
Two weeks later he “wrote” the second with 20-18-11 against Apollon Patras, on November 19 he followed the third against Sporting (29-19-15), while in the 1990/91 season he added two more: 18 – 14-10 with Peristeri and 19-12-11 with Iraklis.
Vrankovic’s record and the “wow” with Green
Similar triple feats with plugs have also been achieved by Stojan Vrankovic (who is already the record holder in EuroLeague history with 10 in a Fortitudo Bologna-Cibona Zagreb game) with Panathinaikos, Anthony Cook with PAOK, Mike Smrek with Dafni, PJ Brown with Panionios, Efthymis Renzias with the National Youth Team and Antonis Fotsis with the Greens youth team.
On Friday night in Lyon, Fall broke the bank when he nearly followed in Draymond Green’s footsteps and posted a rare triple-double without scoring in double figures.
He reached the final horn with two points, seven rebounds, seven assists and eight blocks, while the Warriors’ cocky forward did so on February 10, 2017 against the Grizzlies with 11 rebounds, 10 assists, 10 steals and just two points.
From 0.8 to 8
Fal had grabbed 14 rebounds in the game against Red Star while he dished out seven assists in the game against Baskonia, so there is no news here…
The wave was caused by the eight caps, because on the one hand there are a lot of them and on the other hand the so-called do not have a big problem with davtes.
Before the game with Villerban, he had taken 12 shots in 14 games, and suddenly he flashed and thundered from a 0.8 average to eight!
What is the key quality a good blocker should have?
The cap for Moretti, the timing and the caps
Instead of answering, I’ll give the floor to a specialist and expert, none other than Panagiotis Fasoulas, who, among other things, scored the most decisive international match in the history of Olympiacos!
I am referring to the match against Paolo Moretti in the third game of the European Champions Cup playoff series in the 10993/94 season, thanks to which Piraeus qualified for the Final 4 in Tel Aviv.
“Everything is a question of timing“he explained to me when I asked him how he cultivated and developed his art.
“You need to know and understand where, when and how to jump to block the opponent’s shot. In addition to this sense of space and time, speed of movement and long arms also play a role. I did the caps and even covered the ball so we could go straight to attack” explains Fasoulas, who is already drawing the moral lesson of the story…
“Attack requires talent, but defense depends on will.”
The spider web
Last but not least, this desire flowed from the… gums of Fasoula, who went out and trapped his opponents in the spider’s web from which no one could escape.
From his appearance in the early 80s until his retirement in 1999, he reduced defense not only to a science, but to a spectacular spectacle!
Source: sport 24
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
Matias Lessor received hundreds of interesting messages from friends of Panathinaikos AKTOR about his injury and quickly explained what the situation is.
Matias Lessor’s injury was the only black mark in the game against Armani Milano. For this very reason, the people of Panathinaikos AKTOR didn’t enjoy it as much as they would have liked. At least until they received the results of the sports high school exams.
The day after the game, it became clear that the problem was not serious. However, Matias Lessor explained in detail how he feels after his injury and thanked everyone for their interest.
Matias Lesor’s message in detail:
“Thank you everyone for your lovely messages and your interest. I’m feeling much better. It just hurts, but I’m fine“.
Source: sport 24
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
End of alert for Matias Lesor at Panathinaikos AKTOR. The French center has a bad back due to the injury and will miss tomorrow’s (December 24th) game against Prometheus in Patras (20:15, ERT3 and LIVE on Sportish), but his tests were clear.
Matias Lesor will play in tomorrow’s (December 24th) away game of Panathinaikos AKTOR against Prometheus (8:15 p.m., 3 a.m. and LIVE from Sportish) on matchday 11 of the Stoiximan Basket League due to the lower back injury he sustained in this game , do not compete Armani Milano. But he escaped the worst.
The French center was tested immediately after the return of the “Greens” from Milan, who were “clean”. In other words, they didn’t show that the bone was broken in the middle – which everyone feared when they saw the Frenchman slaughtered on the ground. But Lesor is still in pain, ruling him out of the game against Prometheus and considered doubtful for next week’s EuroLeague game against Red Star.
With Lesor out, Oleg Balcherovski, Kostas Antetokounmpo and Dinos Mitoglou will fill the center position in the game against Prometheus.
Source: sport 24
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
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