The team that goes 2-1 in a three-win Finals series means in the vast majority of cases… a championship. Olympiacos with yesterday’s 75-52 win over Panathinaikos took the lead again for the title and is only one away from the cup.
This is the 23rd time in 30 Finals series in Basket League history that it has gone 2-1. In 18 of the previous 22, the team with the home advantage reached the title. However, out of the four reversals that took place from 2-1 to 2-3, Panathinaikos made three.
The series that went to 2-1 ended as follows:
3-1: 9 (Olympiacos in 1993, Olympiacos 1997, Panathinaikos 2003, Panathinaikos 2005, Panathinaikos 2009, Panathinaikos 2010, Panathinaikos 2011, Olympiacos 2016, Panathinaikos 2021).
3-2: 9 (Olympiacos 1994, Olympiacos 1995, Olympiacos 1996, Panathinaikos 1998, Panathinaikos 2001, Panathinaikos 2007, Panathinaikos 2008, Olympiacos 2012, Panathinaikos 2018).
2-3: 4 (Panathinaikos 1999, AEK 2002, Panathinaikos 2014, Panathinaikos 2017).
Fourth final with 20+ points
Yesterday’s 75-52 is the fourth final in centuries that is decided by a difference of more than twenty points, after the 35 of the 5th final of 1996 (Olympiakos-Panathinaikos 73-38), the 27 of the 2nd final of 2009 (Panathinaikos-Olympiakos 91-64 ) and the 25 of the 2nd final of 2014 (Olympiakos-Panathinaikos 89-64).
The remaining numbers
*The “red and white” had just four accurate shots and “flirted” with the historical, negative record of the finals, which are the three they had in the 5th final of 1995, as many as Panathinaikos scored in the 1st final of last year’s series.
At the same time, executing with 33.33% (4/12) they recorded the second lowest shooting accuracy performance for this year’s Basket League, since it was only higher than the one achieved by PAOK mateco one day earlier in the 3rd minor final, executing with 28.57% (2/7). The previous, smaller, performance of Olympiakos this year was that of 57.14% (12/21) of the away game against Aris for the regular season.
The 33.33% that Olympiacos had from the foul line is also the lowest performance of its last five seasons in the Basket League. He scored the same (4/12 as yesterday) in the 4th final of 2016 against Panathinaikos at OAKA.
Even in relation to yesterday’s match and the “red and white” performance in the season, the deficit of 52 points constitutes a new season record for Olympiacos who had conceded 54 points in the 3rd semi-final against PAOK mateco.
Vezenkov in the top 30 of Olympiakos games
Although he was coming off an injury that put his presence in doubt until moments before the jambolt, Sasha Vezenkov was present and helped Olympiacos to victory, achieving a remarkable feat himself. He made his 83rd appearance with the “red and whites” in the Championship and with it he entered the top 30 of the relevant list from 1992-93. For this to happen he surpassed Yotam Halperin who counted 82 Championship games in the three years 2008-11.
Even on an individual level…
* On his birthday, Giorgos Bartzokas celebrated his 7th victory in a series of finals, a number that ranks him in 6th place on the relevant list, after passing Xavi Pascual who has six.
*Giannoulis Larentzakis entered together with Tomas Walkap in the top 50 list of Olympiakos players with the most appearances in the professional Championship. Both turned 61 yesterday and surpassed Andreas Glyniadakis who had 60 in the three years 2009-12.
At the same time, Larentzakis, with the four rebounds he had, reached and exceeded 600 in his 257th appearance in the category.
*Shaquille McKissic had a significant contribution to Olympiakos’ victory, in a game that had interesting statistical ramifications. It was the 50th for the American in the Basketball League and became the 28th foreigner in the history of the “red and white” to reach it (since 1992-93).
McKissick had 11 points and with them he entered the top 30 of Olympiacos’ foreign scorers. He reached 434 and surpassed Linas Kleiza who had 433 in the 2009-10 season.
Even McKissick, with his only accurate three-pointer in four attempts, became the 9th foreigner in the history of Olympiakos to reach 70+ in the Basket League.
The American posted the 11th 100% two-point performance among players who went 4/4. He is the first Olympiakos player to take a place on this list. The previous, highest, “red and white” performance was that of 88.88% (8/9 2-pointers / 0 errors) that Sasha Vezenkov had in the away game with Lavrio Megabolt.
*Mustafa Fal posted the 22nd 83.33%+ 2-point percentage among those without a foul.
*After 40 minutes of participation in game 2, which happened for the first time after 16 years in a final without overtime, Kostas Papanikolaou was limited to 10 minutes in game 3. But they were enough to score two points and “climb” a place in historical list of Olympiakos. The leader of the “red and white” reached 510 and climbed to the 7th place in the relevant list, leaving behind Dimitris Papanikolaou who had 509 accurate two-pointers in the seven years 1995-2002.
*”Full” was the statistic of Joel Boloboi in the 14:48 he competed. A season record for Olympiakos sprung out of it after the American made four cuts. Thus he surpassed Mustafa Fal’s performance of three interceptions in the home games against Kolossos H Hotels, Apollon Carna and PAOK mateco for the 1st semi-final.
*Mihalis Lountzis had seven points in his four previous games in the Basket League finals and yesterday he scored nine in 12:30 minutes on the floor.
Lee in the top 20 of Panathinaikos’ foreign players with the most three-pointers
One of the five three-pointers attempted by Paris Lee found the target, but it was enough to give him a place in the top 20 of the list of Panathinaikos foreign players with the most accurate shots from the perimeter. The American reached 57 and surpassed Howard Sand-Roch who had 56 in the two years 2020-22.
At the team level, they recorded one positive and six negative season records…
*The Greens recorded their best performance from the foul line this year, shooting 88.23% (15/17). The previous best was in the corresponding regular season game, when they executed with 87.5% (7/8).
*The 52 points he was limited to are a negative season record for Panathinaikos who had 58 in the 2nd semi-final against Peristeri.
*The 44% he had on two-pointers, counting 11/25, is also a negative season record. It was a performance marginally lower than that of the corresponding match of the regular season, in which Panathinaikos executed with 44.11% (15/34).
*On the list of negative performances in the season and that of total rebounds, as Panathinaikos finished the game with 27. He had two less than the 2nd final of the series and the match of the premiere of the Championship with Aris (29).
*Panathinaikos “wrote” 44 in the ranking which shows that it made its worst appearance in this year’s Basket League, since its previous lowest performance in the evaluation system was that of 56 in the 2nd semi-final with Peristeri bwin.
*At the same time, the “greens” equaled the lowest performance of points from mistakes of their opponents. They had six as well in the away game with Lavrio Megabolt.
*Having 20 points through the racket, Panathinaikos also equaled this negative record of the season since it still had 20 in the home games against Lavrio Megabolt and AEK.
Source: Sport Fm
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