Terrible start, tragic second quarter and then Fournier’s time. Vezenkov in his rhythm and Walkup with Peters donned their uniforms again when Virtus appeared to take the fancy of Vitoria. Pantelis Diamantopoulos writes.
Peace and Friendship is not Fernando Buesa Arena and Olympiacos is certainly not Baskonia. So, Virtus may have appeared in Piraeus with whatever fun they had after Clyburn’s… four points in Vitoria, but the appetites of the Greek team were wild.
Especially as soon as the Italians started to show that even without Sengelia they wanted to repeat the triumph.. The “red and white” returned to winning after two consecutive defeats against Paris and Red Star. They were back on track for success.
Bad lies, this devil’s week’s schedule brought the last two players of the standings against the players of Bartzoka. And 100% this is a great opportunity, not only the return to the victories, not only the 3/3 in devil weeks (in the previous two Olympiacos scored 4-0), but also the rise again in the quality and in the ways of threatening the opponents. A chance that faded in the second quarter, but at the break some good soldiers put on their uniforms again.
So the second quarter was bad, which highlighted some things that the Piraeus players will definitely discuss in training. But they were better than the Italians and won fairly.
To the question “has the switch flipped again?” the answer is, you can’t tell. It would ultimately be reductive to write or say such a thing. Olympiacos, for its goals, was obliged to beat Virtus. The opposite effect would be giggles and squinting. At least the ghost stayed in Belgrade and this time there was a team. Which is better than what she played against the Italians.
Sasha started, Marco continued…
If someone watched the first quarter and then left the field, they would be sure that Olympiacos would win by 20 points at halftime. This never happened. Vezhenkov was “hot” and in general the team offensively came in great.
But as time went on, the situation became different. First of all, Ivanovic brought players from the bench, who corrected his image. First of all, Belinelli, who, no matter how many years have passed, he cannot forget art.
I can’t say that the Italians improved defensively. Perhaps the hosts did not have the same frequency in the threat, but the problem for Olympiakos became defensive. And very serious indeed. Not only because of Belinelli, but mainly because the regional players “broke” very easily and the visitors gained a lead in what they will choose. Either get close, or find a good pass.
So the difference was not only gnawed, but Virtus also found a three-pointer from Clyburn to go with + 3 to the locker room. In the fields of statistics, if you notice, they were more or less gladiators themselves, with two important differences: The first, that in the shots the Bolognese were great, in terms of their percentages.
With fewer attacks, they just found the right way to finish them off. The other thing is, that in the second period, they scored 29 points! They practically doubled their own scoring. They had a great season and that’s why your unknown friend who would have left the court at 10 would have left a score of 29-17 and would have lost a single in the sequel 14-29!
But Evan speaks last
If there were some things that needed to be changed in Olympiakos’ game, beyond the defense, it was also that someone should take it upon themselves to stop the Italians’ cough. Vezenkov couldn’t go on a streak throughout the match. And this role was taken by the most suitable. In fact, Fournier was the last person to speak.
He provided the solutions for Olympiacos to hit the gas again. He was the man who made Bologna think that they should hunt and collect the situation again. Well, the second time was not easy to happen. The red defense worked better, Belinelli stayed in the “spring” of the first half and Ivanovic didn’t have much to show.
At the same time, Vezenkov continued to threaten, while a special mention should be made to Walkup and Peters. Two of last year’s protagonists. The soldiers I wrote you about in the preface. They put the uniform back on to remove the risk of losing the battle.
The first was super suspenders. He was the player who “tied up” his teammates, closed lanes, stopped “breaking” the perimeter as it happened in the first 20 minutes. Peters played alongside Sasha and Fal or Milutinov. He was very consistent at the back (he also did things that are not easy to do), while he continued faithfully offensively. Olympiacos improved its two-point scoring, had a large number of assists and generally outplayed its opponent in the second half.
For a peaceful Christmas!
The obligation with Virtus is over. The conclusions are important for Bartzokas, based on the way the match went and especially with what happened in the second quarter. Olympiacos beat the Italians and now they will wait for Alba. The capacity difference is a given, but it is not enough. Especially in the Euroleague.
It is a 2/2 opportunity at home with the specific opponents, just against the German team it would not be bad not to repeat the defensive approach of the second period of the match against Virtus. And if he completes another successful devil’s week, he will have a quiet Christmas to play the day after that, in Milan with Armani…
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