Olympiacos painted “red and white” the first cup of the year signed by Vezenkov!

The match:

The two teams started with surprises the match, as compared to yesterday’s games, Panathinaikos had Grant, Nunn, Papapetrou (instead of Grigonis), Mitoglou and Lessor in their starting five, at the same time when Olympic chose Goss over Walkup at ‘1’, Dorsey over Fournier at ‘2’, with the Frenchman replacing Papanikolaou at ‘3’ and Vezenkov and White rounding out the five.

In the first minute of the match, Wright and Lessor they made it 1-1 from the penalty line, with the French center of the “greens” then stealing the ball and nailing it emphatically for 3-1. Then, Evan Fournier put Olympiakos in front of the score with a terrible step back three-pointer (3-4), to reach the next phase Dorsey and from the top to write the 3-7 in 2′. Kendrick Nunn answered with the same dime before Dorsey’s second straight 3-pointer made it 6-10 in 3′ and Wright with a terrific nailing to create double score (6-12) in 4′. In fact, the American’s nailing was so powerful that it damaged the rim, resulting in a long stoppage to repair the damage!

After almost half an hour, the game continued as normal, with the newcomer on the court, Kostas Sloukas, to cut it to 9-12 with a shot from 6.75m, with Fournier answering shortly after with an indirect 3-pointer for 9-15 at 5′. Grigonis and Dorsey traded 3-pointers for the 12-18, before Olympiakos’ outstanding first-quarter Greek-American guard scored moments later his 4th three-pointer (!), making it 14-21 at 8′! In the final stretch of the period, only Grant connected on two shots, with the quarter ending with score 16-21.

At its beginnings second period, Ataman chose to start in the five with them Lessor and Yurtseven on the floor, having a clear goal to “hit” the red and white racket. A shot that didn’t work out for him, replacing the Frenchman in the 22nd minute to pass Mitoglou on the floor and the score at 18-23. Afterwards, both teams exchanged “blows”, with Panathinaikos through Nan and Grigonis, and Olympiakos mainly through Petrushev (7 points in this period) for 29-34 of the “red and white” at 15′.

With a shot by Grigonis and an impressive field goal foul by Sluka, the “greens” reduced it to 33-34 two minutes later, only for Dorsey and Petrusef to come and punish the poor defensive operations of Panathinaikos, making it 33-38 at 18′. In fact, in the next phase, the Vezenkov with his first basket in the match he increased the difference to +8 (33-41) for the first time, before the Lessor and Sloukas cut to five (38-43) 13” before halftime. In the last attack, Piraeus broke the defense of the whole field of Panathinaikos and with the free layup by Peters, they sent both teams to the locker room with a score of 38-45.

The setting of the match at the beginning was quite different third quarterwhere tthe passion, the hard markings, but also the physical game… it was overflowing for both teams, who showed a lack of clarity of mind, making several mistakes in the first minutes of the period. With Sloukas and Lessor connecting on the opposing basket, Panathinaikos reduced it to 42-47 at 22′, with Giorgos Bartzokas’ team reacting afterwards and with the shots of Wright, Vezenkov and Goss’ three-pointer increasing the difference at +8 and 44-52 at 23′.

From the middle of the quarter, Ergin Ataman’s team increased their performance, with Grigonis and Grant to lead the “green” counterattack. It is indicative that the Lithuanian with eight points and the American with 5, allowed the “clover”, not only to gnaw the difference, but also to overtake for the first time after the initial 3-1 (!), making 62-57 at 28′! The “red and whites”, however, were not “chewed” by the outburst of the “greens”, but with Dorsey’s shots and his two beautiful baskets Vezenkovthey managed to take the lead again, closing the quarter in front with the minimum difference value (62-63).

Somehow, the fourth and final period turned into a real thriller! Olympiakos’ good defense forced Panathinaikos into a bunch of mistakes, with Petrusev and Walkap taking advantage for 62-67 at 32′. Panathinaikos reacted immediately with a huge three-pointer Sluka and a colon of his Nanthey tied it at 67-67 a minute later, before the outstanding Petrushev during this time, find five points in a row for it 67-72 at 35′.

With four points by Papapetrou and two by Lessor, Panathinaikos managed to reduce to a point (73-74), with Vezenkov then to find a big three-pointer for +4 of the typical guests (73-77) in the 37th minute. In fact, the Bulgarian forward of Olympiakos was the one who spoke in the final and with two shots, but also a huge three-pointer in the last minute, he made it 75-84.

More in a moment…

The quarters: 16-21, 38-45, 62-63, 85-86.

See here the statistics of the match.