Euro League
The 23 points with 8 dribbles of the unreal Vezenkov and the fantastic creation of Walkup – Sluka
Stefanos Makris analyzes Olympiakos victory over Zalgris with the help of InStat Scout. Vezenkov, who is valuable because he is economical even when dribbling, the 29 points from the assists of Walkup – Sluka and the role of Fal, Larentzakis.
Olympiacos struggled against Zalgiris more than many expected. The Lithuanians showed themselves to be stubborn, the “Red-Whites” had to give everything to win 90:80.
It was a strange game for Olympiakos. The absence of Kostas Papanikolaou was evident in defence, at the same time the Piraeus team absolutely executed their attacking plan with 5 players scoring double digits.
That Sportish Analysis using InStat Scout how Olympiacos came to victory.
Zalgiris’ height and perimeter shooting played against Olympiakos
Zalgiris is a special team. They are a team size perimeter making sure there are at least 4 shooters on the ground. It gets even more complicated for their opponents when Rolands Schmitz is in the middle position, because suddenly the Lithuanians have 5 shooters on the field. Logically, they started the game with such a five and somewhat confused Olympiakos in the first period.
The former Barcelona player was the one who unmasked the towering Fal in defense early on and played wide from the basket. It was also the reason Lithuanians initially eluded the goal and ended the first quarter early after finding a way to mess with the 5 out logic ) they had in the attack.
At the same time, it’s impossible to mention that Zalgiris is an excellent team at two other things: spot-up shooting (shooting from a standing position) and – perhaps more importantly – at catch and drive (where a player shoots the ball in the perimeter and grabs the defense on). It is no coincidence that the Lithuanians scored 32 (!) points in Catch and Shoot situations – an unimaginable number – and another 13 points in Catch and Drive, with the outstanding Ingnas Brazdeikis (21 points) scoring 7 points in the latter situation.
However, Olympiakos wasn’t worried. And the reason was that at the same time as Fal, he mercilessly beat the Lithuanians near the basket, which is very important to be able to keep him on the ground. It was the French giant who – thanks to Walkup’s inspirations – was able to wear down the tall Lithuanians without losing the difference.
Vezenkov had 23 points with 8 dribbles, Olympiakos 0 points with him on the bench
Sasha Vezhenkov finished the game with 23 points (6/10 2-pointers, 2/4 3-pointers, 5/6 shots), 14 rebounds and +15 on the +/- system, the best among his teammates, which he was MVP of the game. His shot chart below shows some of his impact on the game:
Vezhenkov is on another level. However, the reason he is special is that he has the ability to be so productive and valuable almost without a game to him. He’s just the same one who almost demands that the team’s excellent passers ‘sign’ him with the way he moves on the ground in the context of the Olympiakos attack.
According to InStat Scout, Vezhenkov scored the following points:
cuts (Cuts to basket: 7 points for 4 possessions
post ups (Second leg): 4 points with 3 possessions
catch and drive (Ball acceptance and penetration): 3 points for 3 possessions
catch and shoot (Stop shot): 3 points for 3 possessions
pick and pop (Shove and pass out): 3 points for 2 possessions
Pick and roll (Shield and roll to the basket: 1 point for 1 possession
The talented striker showed attack in 6 different ways. But the impressive thing is something else: Overall, he only needed 8 dribbles (!) for 23 points, showing how frugal he can be.
At the same time, however, there is another interesting stat that shows how important Vezenkov is to Olympiakos: According to InStat Scout, the “Red-Whites” scored all 90 of their points in the Bulgarian striker’s 36 minutes and 25 seconds on the ground (at 74 possession of the ball). In total, Olympiacos missed 11 possessions in the 3 minutes and 35 seconds he was on the bench.
The 29 points from templates by Slukas, Walkap and Larentzakis
In a game that didn’t seem to falter due to the Lithuanians’ marksmanship, Olympiakos were lucky enough to gain a lot from the trio of Walkap (10 points, 6 assists), Sluka (15 points, 6 assists). and Larentzakis (15 points).
First up was the team’s two organizers, as according to InStat Scout Olympiacos took a total of 29 points from assists by Sluka and Walkap (15 and 14 respectively), meaning that Olympiacos practically – indirectly or directly – gained – 54 points from his both guards.
At the same time, Larentzakis was the one who overplayed Kanan’s bad evening with his offered 15 points and especially the fact that he was threatening from the touchline. The presence of the international guard – full of confidence – opened the field for Olympiacos and created the necessary space for the others to do their work.
Another win in the… bag
Olympiacos went 2/2 in the EuroLeague, avoiding a defeat that could have caused them a long-term problem. He showed seriousness, he got what he needed from the players he needed and he can look forward to the sequel more calmly.
Obviously not everything was perfect. The -1 starting five (Walkup, Kanan, Peters, Vezenkov, Fal together for 12min 22s) and the temporary difficulty of dealing with Zalgiris’ “5 out” offense are issues he is dealing with will devote to security. At the same time, one cannot disregard the positive aspects such as Fal’s improved image, Vezenkov’s stability, the remarkable improvement of Larentzakis, Walkap, the fact that a win came on a night when Papanikolaou was absent and clearly unprepared Boloboi.
At the end of the day, what counts for Olympiakos is adding another win to their… bag. Wins always make the next day easier for any team. The season has just started. 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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