Yule “knew” Olympiakos and crowned Real… queen!

He returns from Kaunas empty-handed Olympic!

Thanks to a difficult Yule basket ahead of Fal at 3.2” before the end and with Sluka failing to exhalethe “red and white” were defeated 79-78 from the Real Madridin the final of the Final Four.

This was also the only basket of the Spanish guard in the final, but the Piraeus showed self-control tendencies, since they were at +6 (78-72), in the 38th minute. However, in the last two minutes they were held without a point, making one bad attack after another, with Rodriguez on the opposite side making the big shots and bringing the difference to a point (78-77), before Yule’s big shot, which gave her 11th Euroleague to the people of Madrid.

So, for his team Bartzoka went… the amazing appearance of Vezenkov with 29 points and 9 rebounds, but also of Kanan, who had 21p.

From Real, the first scorer was Rodriguez with 15 points and 9 assists, with Tavares adding 13pts. and 10 rebounds.

The match

Olympiacos started with Fal, Vezenkov, Papanikolaou, Kanan and Walkap. The match had a good pace early on with the “red and whites” getting well into the shots outside of 6.75m. both teams to be together (9-9), in the first three minutes. Then, Piraeus tightened defensively and finding baskets in the open court with Vezenkov and Kanan ran individual scores of 10-0, for +9 (19-10), in 6′. Then Fal and Boloboi were charged with two fouls, staying out of the match, with Papanikolaou and Vezenkov reacting and sending the Piraeus team to +12 (24-12), in the 8th minute. However, in the remaining time the attack “stuck” with the “queen” closing the first period with a 5-0 run (24-17).

Olympiacos maintained its lead (29-24) in the first two minutes of the second period. Then, the “red and whites” lost several defensive rebounds with Rodriguez and Hezonia giving Real the lead with a 7-0 run (29-31), in the 14th minute. The answer from the “red and whites” came with McKissick for their own lead (36-34), but then they continued to miss rebounds and with the Spaniards finding a rhythm on the perimeter they not only went ahead again, but even reached the + 5 (40-45), at 17′. However, in the final minutes it was the defense that kept Olympiakos with Vezenkov and McKissick making it 45-45 in the first half.

They both started the second half with full throttle, with Hanga temporarily putting Real ahead (51-52), in the 23rd minute. Olympiakos’ response was repeated good defenses and with the “hot” forwards Kanan and Vezenkov made a 6-0 run for +5 (57-52), in the 26th minute. Then, mistakes and missed rebounds returned for the “red and whites” with Rodriguez and Williams-Goss scoring 2-7 individually and tying the game (59-59), in the 28th minute. However, Bartzoka’s players tightened their defense in the last minutes and with baskets by McKissick and Sluka, they sent Piraeus to +4 (63-59), at the end of the third period.

Olympiacos started the fourth quarter just as well, with Vezenkov sending them to +7 (68-61), in the 33rd minute. Kozer answered with his three-pointers (71-67), with the Bulgarian answering for the new +7 (74-67), in the 34th minute. Real reduced with a basket and a foul by Rodríguez (74-70), with the match… stuck in the next two minutes and Kanan sending the “red and whites” to +6 (76-70), in the 37th minute. With a basket by the American, the Piraeus went to +6 again (78-72), however the next attacks were misguided with Serhi hitting a three-pointer (78-77), 46” before the end. On the next drive, Fal missed and Matteo’s team had a drive with 12.7” left. Yule scored with a layup in front of the French center at 3.2, with Sluka missing the layup and Real winning the final 78-79.

The quarters: 24-17, 45-45, 63-59, 78-79

See here the match statistics

Watch the film of the match here