Olympiacos wild comeback: 27-2 in the third quarter

Olympiacos took another small step towards glory, from its fourth continental crown ten years after the last, in 2013 against Madrid. First, they had advanced from the leadership of the regular phase to the four chosen, after winning a fifth round against Fenerbahçe, and now, to the final. With a comfortable score (76-62) in an uncomfortable duel, which had him down 12 at halftime (29-41) stirred by the swell of a sea of ​​doubts and only, when he saw himself capsize, did he react. A great comeback, imperial, for the annals of the Euroleague with a 27-2 in the third quarter that dynamited the pulse. The biggest difference ever in any quarter in a Final Four (+21 for Madrid against Fenerbahçe in 2015 was the previous record) and the lowest forced score against the enemy (5 points from Panathinaikos against CSKA in the 2012 semifinal, as reported by Óscar Cuesta). Three large types by size, character and quality, the MVP Vezenkov (9 of his 19 points in overtaking), Papanikolaou (8 of his 15) and the 2.18 Moustapha Fall (5 of his 12), they put together the response with Walkup assisting and in the quartermaster. To the final with a record.

In this sport we talk a lot about curses, which are nothing more than heavy loads that grip the teams. That extreme pressure was transmitted by Olympiacos after the initial jump, the best of the regular phase forced to play the final, we would see if we could win it. And more if the rival was a rookie in the Final Four, where, since Baskonia in 2005, no one has jumped the wall of the semifinals again. A type of intimidation that is not new in this decisive round, because since the current format of all against all The first has never been champion.

AS Monaco also had a cheat, a club in its second year at this level (last year it lost in the fifth round of the playoff against Olympiacos), which has matured (not yet enough) and has talent. The trio Mike James, Elie Okobo and Jordan Loyd is difficult to contain in streakno matter how ferocious ogre you are. The three shorties accumulated 29 of the 41 goals for Sasa Obradovic’s men at halftime, when they usually average 42 overall per game. Okobo was slow to see the hoop, although before doing so he had distributed five assists. The Principality’s defense was fierce and he held the rebound. Those of Bartozkas had a sad 29 goals, but with 9 assists. The problem was his horrible shooting percentages, traced from two and three (4 of 12, 33%), of those who rub their eyes, and a very weak 50% in free throws (9 of 18).

They entered the locker room 12 down (29-41) and when they saw him lost they let go, goodbye pressure. The start of the third quarter had them doing a wheelie to a wheel for four minutes to build a partial of 14-0. A section in which they only missed one launch and which placed them where they thought they were going to be before the initial jump, in command. The onslaught stretched until the end of the third quarter, a 27-2 in those ten minutes for the Final Four anthologyrecord, a devastating setback with Papanikolaou, Vezenkov and Fall carrying everything and Larentzakis finishing off with a triple to close the act. Great job behind Walkup, although the arbitration permissiveness in the contacts was very high and that hurt Cinderella. Obradovic had returned Okobo to the track, when the streak against him had exceeded double digits, to dispose of his three tenors… The bleeding, however, was unstoppable, many Monegasque possessions were cut short by the 24-second horn.

The last period did not get out of control, Olympiacos had grabbed their prey and was not going to let go. The Greek fans roared, now they were sweating with everything, they were no longer cold sweats against an opponent who ended up in a helpless I want and I can’t, unable to re-engage. Olympiacos, the leader, will fight for the title this Sunday against Real Madrid, the fourth final between the two. Let’s see.

olympiacos

Statistics

14 Sasha Vezenkov
16 Kostas Papanikolaou
10 Moustapha Fall
3 Isaiah Canaan
0 Thomas Walkup
eleven kostas sloukas
77 Shaquielle McKissic
5 Giannoulis Larentzakis
twenty-one Joel Bolomboy
28 Tarik Black
25 Alec Peters
4 Michalis Lountzis

Statistics

	Min	pts	RT	RO	DR	Ast	Per	rec	Tap	T1	T2	T3	FR	CF	Val
14 Sasha Vezenkov	35	19	6	2	4	3	1	0	1	3/4	5/8	2/6	2	3	19
16 Kostas Papanikolaou	30	fifteen	8	2	6	0	1	2	0	3/5	3/5	2/5	5	1	twenty-one
10 Moustapha Fall	27	12	4	0	4	4	1	1	0	2/5	5/6	0/0	5	3	18
3 Isaiah Canaan	19	7	1	0	1	1	1	2	0	0/2	2/2	1/3	1	3	4
0 Thomas Walkup	18	0	3	1	2	7	1	1	0	0/2	0/0	0/0	1	3	6
eleven kostas sloukas	23	9	1	0	1	7	4	0	0	7/8	1/3	0/1	5	2	eleven
77 Shaquielle McKissic	17	5	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	0/0	1/3	1/1	0	0	6
5 Giannoulis Larentzakis	9	4	3	0	3	0	1	0	0	1/3	0/0	1/3	2	1	3
twenty-one Joel Bolomboy	6	2	5	2	3	0	1	0	0	2/2	0/0	0/0	2	2	6
28 Tarik Black	5	3	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1/2	1/2	0/0	1	2	0
25 Alec Peters	4	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	1
4 Michalis Lountzis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	1	-1

AS Monaco

Statistics

3 jordan loyd
10 John Brown
55 Mike James
twenty Donatas Montiejunas
24 Yakuba Ouattara
0 Elie Okobo
eleven Alpha Diallo
Four. Five Donta Hall
1 Chima Moneke
32 Matthew Strazel
4 jaron blossomgame
5 Yoan Makoundou

Statistics

	Min	pts	RT	RO	DR	Ast	Per	rec	Tap	T1	T2	T3	FR	CF	Val
3 jordan loyd	31	eleven	7	0	7	2	3	2	0	4/5	23	1/6	7	4	fifteen
10 John Brown	30	4	3	3	0	0	3	1	0	0/1	2/4	0/0	2	2	2
55 Mike James	28	17	3	0	3	2	2	0	0	7/7	2/7	2/7	4	1	13
twenty Donatas Montiejunas	twenty-one	7	5	3	2	0	0	0	0	1/2	3/6	0/2	2	3	5
24 Yakuba Ouattara	10	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	3	-2
0 Elie Okobo	27	17	1	0	1	5	1	1	0	5/8	3/7	2/6	5	3	14
eleven Alpha Diallo	22	2	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0/0	1/1	0/2	0	3	1
Four. Five Donta Hall	18	2	7	3	4	0	0	0	1	0/1	1/2	0/0	1	2	7
1 Chima Moneke	9	2	1	0	1	1	1	1	0	0/0	1/1	0/1	0	3	-1
32 Matthew Strazel	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
4 jaron blossomgame	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
5 Yoan Makoundou	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0