Euro League
Olympiacos – Zalgiris Kaunas 90-80: Vezenkov from a dream
With Sasha Vezenkov posting incredible stats and a career high in rebounds, Olympiacos defeated Zalgiris Kaunas (90-80) on an empty court due to an SEF suspension to make it 2/2 in the 2022/23 EuroLeague.
The triumph in Barcelona gave wings to the Olympiakos players, who defeated Zalgiris (90:80) on Friday evening (14/10) in the empty Stadium of Peace and Friendship on the second day of the EuroLeague. Giorgos Bartzokas’ team didn’t have Kostas Papanikolaou with a knee injury, they felt resistance from Kaunas, but they were on a different level and justified expectations and estimates.
The Piraeus did their job in front of empty stands without trying too hard, without being pushed to their limits, and now hope that people will fill the SEF for the game against Peristeri on Sunday afternoon (16/10 at 19:15). will be by Vassilis Spanoulis ahead of the first week of the season and away games against Real Madrid and Baskonia. They need the applause, the support, the hug after this “hot” start to the year.
Incredible things, once again, from Sasha Vezhenkov (23 points, 14 rebounds) who is aiming for the MVP award as well as first goalscorer of the tournament, impressive ‘recovery’ from Mustafa Fal after bad night in Barcelona In the swept by Tomas’ walkup in the first half, as was Giannoulis Larentzakis, who lives up to expectations. Tarik Black only played two minutes and was sent off with four fouls and one technical penalty.
The MVP
What Sasha Vezenkov does is taken from his dreams. Scored 23 points on 14 shots (6/10 2-points, 2/4 3-points, 5/6 field goals), had a career-high 14 rebounds, two assists, two steals, five foul shots and 37 points The scoring system has all of this left on the ground in 36:26. He’s the best player in Europe right now, the hottest, the most entertaining, the most confident.
The weak link
Lukas Lekavicius didn’t offer Zalgiris against a side he’s used to. The short guard was held to 4 points (2/5 2 points) in 16 minutes, two assists and two turnovers in an evening when the Lithuanians needed him.
The stats that stood out
Olympiacos finished the first half with 1/7 three points and six assists for five errors, while Zalgiris grabbed four points from second chances. At halftime, Vezenkov had 14 points (13.7 points per game last year) on eight shots, the assist-to-foul ratio had risen to 12:6 and Lithuania’s two-point shooting had fallen to 38.1%. From six penalties in the first 11 minutes, the Piraeus fell to two in the next 19, with Vezenkov writing the double-double (20/10) before the third period even started, while by the end of the evening the 25/28 shots, the hosts had was another great performance after the 25/25 they scored in Barcelona.
The race
With Walkup, Kanan, Vezenkov, Peters, Fall, Barzokas opened the game in which Schmitz scored seven quick points in the third minute to make it 2-9, but the French center of Olympiakos responded with nine of their own to make it 14-11 in the middle of the game First period. Walkup did an incredible job in defense and attack, but the Lithuanians held the quarter thanks to their long-range shots to 18:21.
With Larentzakis venting the shot on goal, a swimmer and a three from the corner, Piraeus took the lead early in the second period (24-23 at 12′). Vezenkov needed phases, but so did Brazdeikis, who reached 11 points with his strength to reduce to one (31-30). The game was not of high quality, with empty stands it was not easy for the Olympiakos players to find a rhythm, but still everything seemed easy for Vezenkov, since on his own strength and a foul the difference was eight (41- 33). before Larentzakis scored 44-35 at halftime.
Vezenkov and Walkup also caused a stir early in the second half before Fall scored a foul shot to make it 52-45 in the 24th minute as Zalgiris tried to fuel the defence. Walkup with a three-pointer (57-48) continued to do magical things, Olympiakos was not threatened, he broke the tension of the Lithuanians whenever they tried to equalize the game and closed the third period at +9 (67-58) remains the boss of the race.
A “dead” three minutes early in the fourth helped Zalgiris stay close, but Slukas made a foul shot to make it 70-61, and then Vezhenkov (foul shot) – McKissick went on a 5-0 run to make it 81-70, which decided the game relatively early.
THE REFEREES: Garcia, Rocha, Semes
THE DECADES: 18-21, 44-35, 67-58, 90-80
OLYMPIC (Bartzokas): Walkap 10 (3/4 2-pointers, 1/3 3-pointers, 1/1 shot, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals), Kanan (0/2 2-pointers, 0/1 3- pointer), Larentzakis 15 (2/5 2-pointers, 3/5 3-pointers, 2/2 shots, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals), Fal 16 (6/9 2-pointers, 4/4 shots, 5 rebounds, 2 assists), Slukas 15 (2/4 2-pointers, 0/2 3-pointers, 11/12 shots, 2 rebounds, 6 assists), Vezenkov 23 (6/10 2-pointers, 2/4 3 -Pointers, 5/6 shots, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals), Boloboi, Peters 6 (1/4 2-pointers, 1/4 3-pointers, 1/1 shot), Black, McKissick 5
ZALGIRIS KAUNAS (Maksvitis): Evans 14 (3), Lekavicius 4, Hayes 6 (2/7 deuces), Schmitz 10 (2), Biroutis, Lukosiunas, Brazdeikis 21 (7/10 deuces, 1/5 trebles). , 4/5 shots, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Dimsa 3 (1), Kavanaugh 12 (4/8 threes, 7 rebounds, 3 assists), Butkevicius 5 (1), Ulanovas 5 (1)
Olympiacos team statistics: 22/42 2-pointers, 7/21 3-pointers, 25/28 shots, 37 rebounds (25 defensive – 12 offensive), 20 assists, 9 steals, 1 block, 11 fouls
Zalgiris Kaunas team statistics: 15/33 2-pointers, 13/30 3-pointers, 11/13 shots, 35 rebounds (23 defensive – 12 offensive), 17 assists, 5 steals, 1 block, 13 turnovers
The next games of the two teams: In the first week of the season, Olympiacos will play away at Real Madrid (19/10, 9:45 p.m.) and Baskonia (21/10, 9:30 p.m.). Zalgiris, on the other hand, will host Virtus Bologna (10/18, 8:00 p.m.) and then Barcelona (10/20, 8:00 p.m.) in Kaunas.
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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