 | POSTED BY: CHRIS MAMMIDES |
In a thrilling game where the CSKA Moscow of the big backs and the great budget was leading the score with as many as 19 points difference the young talents of Olympiakos Piraeus and Coach Ivkovic did their miracle!!! Olympiakos Beat CSKA Moscow Moskow with 61-62 and is replacing the team of Panathinaikos from the Top position of the European Basketball! The Greeks are here! the Greeks against all odds against the budgets of the other teams against the doubts and against everything won the European title and proved once more that the Basketball is in the DNA of the Greek people!
Olympaikos of Coach Ivkovic, of Vassilis Spanoulis (193-G-82), of Georgios Printezis (206-F-85, agency: FCM) and of the amazing trio Mantzaris (great defense against nearly all the Russian key players), Sloukas with gats that not even the most mature players have and the amazing Kostas Papanikolaou (204-F-90) who was the top scorer and the MVP of the game who scored some baskets at the end which needed tones of guts..
In regards to the game now, CSKA Moscow was dominated in the first period and outscored the Greek team with the poor 10-7 in a game where both teams were a bit blocked and the game was stronger on the psychology level rather than on the arena of Sinan Erdem. The 16.000 fans (4.500 Greeks) were not so thrilled by the first period as they were looking for another thrilling game as the two at the semis.
The second period though was not good for the Greeks as the Russians with solid basketball and good Defense did a 24-13 and with 34-20 ended the second period with a +14 in a game where all the fans expecting an easy win for the Russians, their expectations were looking to become true. Teodosic was the top scorer but he was overdoing it in most of the cases with his Head Coach wishes.... On the other hand, Olympiakos was blocked by the good defense over Vassilis Spanoulis who couldn't repeat his good game like the one against Barcelona.
The second period though was not good for the Greeks as the Russians with solid basketball and good Defense did a 24-13 and with 34-20 ended the second period with a +14 in a game where all the fans expecting an easy win for the Russians, their expectations were looking to become true. Teodosic was the top scorer but he was overdoing it in most of the cases with his Head Coach wishes.... On the other hand, Olympiakos was blocked by the good defense over Vassilis Spanoulis who couldn't repeat his good game like the one against Barcelona.
In the third period the game went exactly as the Russians wanted it in a slow motion and with a bit more flexible defenses so both teams were scoring quite easier than the previous periods, so the period ended with a +13 for CSKA and a 53-40.
The most thrilling period of the history (probably) of Euroleague took place in the Sinan Erden Arena, when the Greeks of Olympiakos, especially Georgios Printezis and Kostas Papanikolaou the MVP of the game, succeeded something which only the Greek spirit and courage can achieve, the total comeback against the millionaires of CSKA Moscow. With a 22-8 and with great defense, psychology, gats and details which can't be counted or found in the Statistics and the pure Math of a game, were able to win the Russians and celebrate their second European title after the one won back in 1997!
Olympiakos is the European Champion and that is a fact!!
Top scorers:
CSKA: Teodosic 15 points with 1/4 two pointers and 4/9 three pointers, Kirilenko 12 points and 10 rebounds, Krstic 11
Olympiakos: Kostas Papanikolaou 18 points with nearly perfect stats as he lost only one free throw, as he had 2 out of 2 in 2's, 3 out of 3 in 3's and 5 out of 6 in the free throws and 4 rebounds, Spanoulis 15 points and Georgios Printezis 12
Olympiakos and Coach Ivkovic trusted in a serious game like this, the young Greek talents who even though are only 21 years old they have acted in teh court as if they are playing many years the game, against the NBAers Kirilenko and Krstic, Mantzaris (26 minutes), Papanikolaou (27 minutes) and Sloukas (13 minutes) gave tehir very best and they had no fear even when their team was following the 'big Russians' with 19 points. On the other hand, the American Dorsey played only 12 minutes, Hines and Antic 18 minutes per head while Keselj and Law 12 minutes per head. An amazing fact is that the 3 Americans of Olympiakos scored zero points with 0/7 in 2's and 0/1 in 3's while the only none Gree points on behalf of Olympiakos were scored by Antic (7 points) and Keselj (3 points) so 52 out of 62 points were scored by the Greek element of Olympiakos!! Last but not least,Papanikolaou succeeded a new career high in the Euroleague games with his 18 points scored in the most crucial game of his life until now!
0 σχόλια:
Post a Comment