Euro League
Anyone who fears Efes Anantolou simply doesn’t know Olympiakos well
Olympiacos play state-of-the-art basketball and at SEF people give extra power. That’s why the red-whites don’t care about an opponent and go according to their own philosophy, without fear of anyone. Spyros Kavalieratos writes
Qualifying for the playoffs was not an easy task for Olympiacos. It was the main goal that at some point – there in early 2022 – after the consecutive defeats because of Covid 19 even seemed difficult. Well, the red-whites, starting with the game against Baskonia, not only managed to move into the 8th, but also secured the home field advantage as of Friday night.
In any other case, there would be a festive atmosphere in the return charter. At Olympiakos, however, no one flies in the clouds. And let no one warn that there is fear about the possible clash with Efes in the quarterfinals. These concern only a few pessimistic supporters of his, especially those who complained from the start and didn’t believe in their team. This is the category of people who are never happy, always looking for a reason to feel justified, and at the end of the day will never be happy in their life.
Successful but not full
So Olympiakos has no reason to celebrate. Although he returned after four years and even with home advantage in the playoffs. He is already successful in the EuroLeague, but not fully. And he’s good. Not just because a very good team has found its way, but because it can aim even higher. Next goal is third place in the regular season, not only passing SEF but also hanging on Milan. Nonetheless, the Red and Whites are motivated to play with the first and best of the regular season, Barcelona, which is why they are already looking forward to it.
Olympiacos have every reason to be optimistic about the future, whether against Efes or Maccabi. Either 3rd or 4th comes out. Anyone who really believes that there is no chance of qualifying for the Final 4 with the Turks and with the Israelis is sure to travel to Belgrade, regardless of whether they don’t know Olympiakos or the EuroLeague well.
But, one would say, the majority has long said whoever finds Efes Anantolou in the playoffs, even with home advantage, is the most unlucky. That was the prevailing opinion, but looking at European champions Sinan Erdem’s last two games, the differing opinions may need to be reconsidered. Efes haven’t been the same side since the start of the season as they have been for the last three years, the picture was disappointing especially in the second half against Armani Milano. The Italians looked scary in this game, not the Turks.
He’s the strong one now
However, Olympiacos has no reason to look at the opposition as he is the strong man now. Because that’s how Bartzokas treats basketball as a whole, that’s his philosophy from the moment he became a coach. There is the necessary scouting, but the Red and Whites have not learned to play and adapt to the opponent, but to follow their own plan in defense and attack. And he has guided them successfully this season so far.
Olympiacos are a different team now than last year, also compared to the start of the season. There may be bad nights, like in Alba or Monaco, but those are the exceptions. There will be no shortage of mistakes, individually and as a team, the poor performance of the players or the wrong moves by Bartzokas, except that it’s all the tree and not the forest.
The forest for Olympiakos is that Bartzokas’ philosophy has passed 100% to his team and the Red-Whites are now a solid team that is not afraid and gets even better with every month that goes by. Time works in Ombiakos’ favor, building something stronger every day despite any disagreements, and all of this creates an explosive mix.
The three leaders and Pap
Costas Sloukas, Sasha Vezenkov and Tyler Dorsey, the top three in Lyon, are the leaders of this effort which has clearly taken the keys of the team. Bartzokas brought automation and his own style of play to everyone’s awareness and now the red and white play the most modern basketball on the market in Europe. TJ Parker’s words after the game, “You see how they move the ball. Just like… a game,” is the ultimate endorsement. They’re not alone of course, with every player now having a clear role in the squad, but somewhere around here it’s time to pay another tribute to Costas Papanikolaou. It’s no coincidence that his own rise recently has raised the level of the whole squad. He is the guardian angel of every leader and every player at Olympiakos and the more he plays at a high level the better it gets.
Of course there are weaknesses, after all they are more expensive and full of squads in the EuroLeague. Nobody claims that Olympiacos are favorites for the cup or that they have qualification for Final 4 in the bag. But seeing this team, especially when they play at Peace and Friendship Stadium, has every reason to be optimistic. Not to be arrogant, nor to be safe. Simply optimistic for a team that brings health from the floor both externally (administratively) and internally (coach, players, supervisors).
Well, if something goes wrong when the playoffs start, not just because the sport is like that, but more importantly because the opponents are also playing and have value, the – optimistic – fans will likely find that they’ll take matters into their own hands . The people of Olympiakos this year at SEF will be excellent if we exclude the… ovens and lasers with Panathinaikos. And if Olympiakos doesn’t step onto the field relaxed and see every game as a final – and even more so if you consider him an underdog – he hardly loses in Faliro. Whoever is opposite.
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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