Olympiacos “got wild” and went to the final!

Another and… ferocious Olympic in the second half he “kneeled” him Panathinaikos for the 11th time in a row and taking the win 81-65advanced to the Final 8 of the Cup, where he will face the Pigeon bwin!

Superior in the first part the “greens”, as well they closed it at +5 (35-40). But, the “red and white” entered the second with individual scores of 20-1, having as their absolute protagonists Papanikolaou did too, who caught fire outside the 6.75 m. and of course this was the “key” for the rest of the derby.

Excellent in yet another match Vezenkovwho led the derby with 22 points and 10 rebounds, with Papanikolaou to add 15p. and the They didwho left with a problem, to stop at 14p.

From the “clover”, he stood out Li with 17 points, with Papagianni and Williams to have from 13p. anyone. Almost… Bacon ghost with just 5p. and 1/12 field goal shooting!

The match

Olympiacos started with Fall, Vezenkov, Papanikolaou, Kanan and Walkap, while Panathinaikos started with Gudaitis, Williams, Bacon, Kalaitzakis G. and Lee. The match was a derby from the start, since the two “eternal” were tied at the score (10-10), thanks to Vezenkov-Papanikolau and Williams-Lee, in the first five minutes. With a series of defenses, the “greens” found a 4-0 streak (10-14), with Vezenkov answering for the “red and whites” with a personal 8-0 for +4 (18-14), in the 8th minute. With Papagiannis and Ponitkas, the “clover” was reduced to a point (20-19), with Fal making it 22-19 in the first period.

The misguided persistence of Olympiakos outside the 6.75m. Panathinaikos took advantage at the beginning of the second quarter, securing the defensive rebounds and with Li and Papagianni having a rhythm in the attack, escaped to +3 (27-30), at 13′. Two shots by McKissick followed and at the end a three-pointer by Bacon that sent the “greens” to +4 (29-33), at 15′. Then, the Piraeus found three pointers with Sloukas and Larentzakis and took the lead again (35-33), at 17′. However, from that point on the Radonić players tightened up even more defensively, with the Piraeus woefully misplaced and thus going on a 7-0 run until the end of the first half, going into the locker room with +5 (35-40) .

One… another Olympiakos and another… another Panathinaikos entered the second part. The “red and white” came “biting” into the defense, completely blocking the “green” who made repeated bad attacks. On the other hand, Kanan took… fire outside the 6.75m. and together with the also excellent Papanikolaou, pushed the Piraeus to a partial score of 20-1, for +14 (55-41), in the 26th minute. At that point the derby “lit up” with recriminations between the benches and then there was also a “hot episode” with Papanikolaou and Agravanis. This did not particularly scare Barzoka’s team, where, thanks to Vezenkov, they even went to +17 (60-43), in the 28th minute. In the remaining time, Radonić players found the first shots in the field, but Olympiacos closed the third period at +14 (64-50).

With a three-pointer by Vezenkov, Olympiacos escaped again to +15 (67-52) at the beginning of the fourth period, while thanks to Black, they maintained the same distance (72-57), until the 34th minute. Afterwards, the “red and whites” did not lose control of the derby, even lowering the tempo. However, apart from Williams and Lee, Panathinaikos did not have any other reliable solution in the attack. Thus, the team from Piraeus maintained its double-digit difference and reached victory with the final 81-65.

The quarters: 22-19, 35-40, 64-50, 81-65

See the match statistics here

Watch the film of the match here