Euro League
Victory in Baskonia sees Olympiakos forget Wokap’s misplaced three-pointer
Olympiakos regained strength in Madrid but not touch with the wins and Giannis Fileris writes about the final in Vitoria with Baskonia and Wokap’s misplaced three-pointer
The good news: Olympiacos found the fighting self he was missing in Madrid (or the coronavirus and other issues that all came together), did an amazing first half, made it very difficult for Real to change the flow of the game going in played on the verge of foul play at almost every stage of the second half. The team, who lost by a hair’s breadth to Fener, couldn’t put up much of a match against Maccabi and were beaten at home by Red Star, went into the game with the tournament’s best team on fire.
Progress is a given, along with a ray of optimism, although Conter recorded their fourth straight defeat, Olympiakos are yet to win the EuroLeague in 2022, the record has fallen to 12-9 and the spreads are now starting to narrow dangerously. Where they have the advantage, the “Red-Whites” find themselves surrounded by the other contenders to qualify for the playoffs, with the continuation of back-to-back finals.
And this is the bad news of a good show, but it didn’t… finish. And in the EuroLeague, as is well known, there are no good defeats. The Count is relentless and doesn’t see if you played well, but in the end you lost…
On the other hand, the appearance in Madrid for a long time had many characteristics of Olympiakos in the first half of the year, something that Bartzokas and players must maintain in order to continue even better, that is, to start the game coming to Vitoria. The win against Basconia tomorrow (February 4th) in the Fernando Buesa Arena is out of the question anyway. However, the game turned out to be crucial as another game stop follows next week with Efes at the Peace and Friendship Stadium.
First on the ball
Whether Olympiakos has really made a step forward and slowly overcome the decline of the last few games, we will find out by watching him against Baskonia, a side with much less capacity than Real.
In the first period we again saw the Piraeus getting the ball first, being focused on their defensive plan and, with the exception of the hosts’ resounding superiority in rebounds, playing the game the way they wanted from the start. At a pace they controlled, with lots of contacts, melee combat, sacrificial jumps and basketball that could end up being a great doubles.
Olympiacos had time to do all this. Bringing energy and passion to the ground, stealing balls and forcing a team like Real to change troparion until they play with a center and… four shorts. Obviously not everything went perfectly considering that the Madrilenians came back into the game with a difference of 14 points.
Although Bartzokas, as he said at half-time, was waiting for Real’s dynamic response, at some point in the replay Olympiakos appeared to lose control or drown in stress. Think of the two missed nails (!) by McKissick and Fal at a time when the home team’s basket seemed to be surrendered to the whims of the two Olympiacos players. In a match scored by a shot, two missed nails is tantamount to suicide…
Why did Woookup shoot?
However, Olympiacos was at the critical juncture of the game. That said, when Real overtook him on points (thanks to Tomas Ertel’s sickle, the darkest point in the generally good defensive presence of the entire Piraeus side), many believed he was going to collapse. Sasha Vezenkov’s five straight points (leading the game as he faced the sweeping Yabuzele, among others) got him back on bay.
It was a shot. And Olympiacos’ critical attack, after excellent defense and a misplaced third corner by Hertel, came on with 1:19 to go. As expected, Sloukas Fal took the ball out of his hand and found the uncovered Wokap in the corner as the phase progressed.
What do we see? Sloukas, almost surrounded by Real’s defence, essentially has a choice between a correct pass to Wokap. Passing the ball to the unmarked Vezenkov seems impossible as he would have to rotate his body in the air. A pass to Dorsey is also in jeopardy as Yul and Rudy are lured into stealing. Fal also steps back half a step to get the ball back, Tavares is close to the basket, as is Yabouzele, who is already urging his compatriot down the middle.
Wookup theoretically shoots correctly since it’s a free three-pointer. Yes, only the American has a post … 18.2%, yes, he is a better shot than he looks, but for better or for worse he only finds beams so far.
If you look at the bottom of the screenshot, you can see that there are 8 inches left for the end of Olympiacos’ attack. A pass to Dorsey (and another to Vezenkov) makes more sense than a shot from the blonde playmaker, who predictably missed the target. Such a decision has to be made in a split second and Wokap put instinct ahead of a flash of inspiration for an attack that Olympiacos has executed perfectly at other times.
Of course, not only Olympiakos is on the pitch. Real’s defense who closed their defense firstly to not receive a shot from Sloukas and secondly to prevent him from going in any other way than Wokap. Yul leaves the guard with the worst percentage untagged, knowing he’s not in immediate danger from this angle.
Note, however, that Olympiacos is playing with three guards at this stage, without a classic trio, due to the absence of both Papanikolaou and McKissick, who could potentially parry that attack on another occasion. Or Larentzakis, who stayed in Athens, stricken by the coronavirus.
Wookup failed, Rudy (in the next phase) showed why he remains valuable for Lasso and Real at 37 and it was all over.
All of this, however, will hardly matter when Olympiacos finally return from Spain with a win under their belt. The win against Bascona looks like one of the biggest goals of the year, even if there aren’t more than two points…
Source: sport24
Jessica Martinez is an author at Sportish, a publication dedicated to sports news and analysis. She covers various topics related to sports and provides insightful commentary on the latest developments in the world of sports.
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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