AEK was a well balanced orchestra with a Greek conductor and a Latin American soloist

AEK celebrated the first trophy in its history and the first trophy ever after eleven years. In fact, as luck would have it, she won against Roga and Papafotiou, who played at Union, when she celebrated her last trophy in 2012.

AEK won the cup naturally following the image teams had prior to the Final Four as they are in the best shape of any contender at the moment.

We can’t know what will happen once the championship is settled, but now AEK is a step above the other three.

The man who transformed her

But let’s take a closer look at what happened in the final. From the day Yunus Ocal took over, AEK took on clear roles in their game.

Turkus brings out the best in every player. The way AEK is structured, there are key players doing a job that doesn’t look like it.

The duo of Nizetich and Artakianos hold all reception, essentially taking Calderon off the field. The Cuban bears the brunt of the attack along with her compatriot Gisele Silva.

If the first two hold the reception, Lamprini Konstantinidou’s life will be easier. We also wrote about this last year. The 26-year-old Greek passer has improved her level and with her fast game she can add another quality to her team and make life easier for the two Cubans.

Of course, we should not take out of the equation the two central ones (Kalandadze and Kulikova), who help in different ways.

The key from Argentina

The one who delivered a great performance in the final and absolutely deserved the title of MVP was Yamila Nizetich. The Argentina winger was sensational.

She held the slot with high percentages, got two aces, had two blocks, and despite the fact that her attack percentage wasn’t that great (11/38), she helped in crucial points.

Moreover, along with Artakianou, they did a great job in defense as well as reception. The 34-year-old winger was outstanding overall and fully validated her rich CV, which justified those who picked her for AEK.

The negative anae and the difference to last year

Now we come to the defeated Panathinaikos. The Greens failed to win their second title in a row. If you exclude the Olympiakos vs. AEK and PAOK derbies, they essentially have exactly the same problem.

When Anae plays well the greens are great, when the American doesn’t there is a problem. By God, Anae is not a bad player, nor should all the blame be laid on her. So far, however, she has been very inconsistent in her performance even during a set, showing that she is a psychological player.

Perhaps in the playoffs we’ll see Yannis Kalmazidis choose a similar formation to AEK, hiding the American in reception while Roga and Grothes occupy the entire back zone.

Here’s an opportunity to address something else. This is also the main difference of Panathinaikos compared to last year. In Anae’s place, the Greens had Eva Hadava, who had her problems at reception, but was always there offensively, especially in the decisive games.

If Panathinaikos has anything to keep from this endgame, it’s Hatziefstratiadou’s performance. The Greek centre-back made a great play, which is reflected in the 13 points she scored with even five blocks.