Euro League
Zalgiris – Olympiakos 73-84: Playoff rehearsal and the scent of a quartet in Kaunas
Educated and impressively fighting Zalgiris gave him a hard time, but Olympiakos defeated him in Kaunas (84-73) and made another crucial move for the quartet and home field advantage in the EuroLeague playoffs.
The away game against Zalgiris, postponed for the 19th EuroLeague game, did not come at a good time for Olympiacos. The Lithuanians are in a good phase of form, the derby with Panathinaikos follows in just under 48 hours, so the Red-Whites’ action in the Zalgirio Arena was indeed difficult, demanding. It became the longest part of the game, but in the end the best team won.
Piraeus prevailed 84-73, rising to 16-8 and getting even closer to home field advantage in the playoffs of the tournament, knowing that everything is in their hands now. With three wins in their last four games, they will mathematically solidify their presence in the quartet and not care about the results of the teams behind them, mainly Anantolou Efes.
Great night for the reborn Hassan Martin, great night for the leader Costas Papanikolaou, Tyler Dorsey didn’t shoot from the periphery but he had good intervals in the second half which helped Olympiakos. Zalgiris’ image is very good for another night, with Lucas Lekavitsios – Josh Nibo standing out and causing serious problems for their opponents, but in the final they see their team flexing against a superior team.
The MVP
Great play by Hassan Martin, who scored (13 points from 5/8 two points and 3/6 shots), played defense, hit the offensive rebound and missed second chances that Olympiacos capitalized on. The American is going through a period of good form, he perfectly complements Mustafa Fal and has given another good choice to his coach, who sees him as lighter, stronger and more determined than the player we saw in the first months of the period. We may wrong Costas Papanikolaou who was great but Martin was more than effective during the time he played.
The weak link
Bad night for Artouras Milaknis (3 points, 0/4 shots, 3/3 shots in 25 minutes), a player traditionally hurting Greek sides. He wasn’t the only one left behind by Zalgiris, but surely Yuri Zdovch expected more from him, from his reliable hand and experience.
The stats that stood out
Olympiakos ended the first half on an assist, Zalgiris capped it off with double rebounds (10-5) and had 13 assists at halftime against the nine red-whites who were 62% on two points but weak on peripheral shot. 3/12, 25%). The situation got worse in the third ten minutes when Piraeus 0/5 had three points, but by the end of the evening both teams had exceeded 60% in two points, with Olympiakos hiding their mistake behind 6:75 and leaving Kaunas with a few errors, for the criticality of the game.
The race
Olympakos went into the match with his classic five (Wokap, Dorsey, Papanikolaou, Vezenkov, Fal). He took three points from his main small forward for 2-6, but he made slight mistakes, giving Zalgiris an opportunity to equalize at 8-8 and take a three-point lead thanks to 3/3 shots from Milaknis in the sixth minute walk. Papanikolaou and Vezenkov (with torfouls) didn’t let the hosts escape towards the end of the season, although 20-15 in 10 minutes seemed poor for Piraeus, who lacked creativity and needed more focus on defensive rebounds.
Martin and Vezenkov came in well in the second ten minutes to reduce the basket (22-20 in 12′), the American did an important job covering Lovers before Larentzakis fouled a goal to make it 25-26 in the game with Sloukas , McKissick and Brindisi scored , Martin around him. Lekavitsius and his collaboration with Nibos bothered Bartzokas a lot, but I saw his players ramp up the intensity and strength of Zalgiris, Brindezi-Martin to write 31-34 and a small 0-6 to set the game on fire , which found the two teams at 39-39 in 20′.
Olympiakos started the second half with a foul from Fal to make it 39-42, Dorsey made two big baskets from middle distance to make it 48-50 in 25′ but Nimbo and the failure from the periphery were still the two main problems Piraeus faced didn’t lose the match even if they couldn’t find a way to control it.
Dorsey with layup and Papanikolaou with three opened impressively in the fourth third, Martin defended close to the basket with blocks and rebounds. An offensive rebound led to a three from Dorsey for 59-66 in 32′, Martin continued the great work with his finishes and offensive rebounds, one of which Sloukas made the three for 64-72 in 34′ before Vezenkov after one American center’s pass to make it 69-79 and cleared the game three minutes before the final.
THE REFEREES: Jimenez, Jovcic, Rossi
THE TEN MINUTES: 20-15, 39-39, 59-58, 73-84
The next games of the two teams: In the 30th game, Zalgiris hosts Anantolou Efes (17/3 at 20:00 CEST) while Olympiakos plays Panathinaikos at SEF (17/3 at 21:00 CEST).
Hi, my name is Jayden James. I am a writer at Sportish, and I mostly cover sports news. I have been writing since high school and have been published in various magazines and newspapers. I also write book reviews for a website. In my free time, I enjoy playing soccer and basketball.
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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