Olympiacos – to have an easy job in the Greek finals
The Greek Basket League has reached the final stage, and the eternal rivals Olympiacos and Panathinaikos will meet again in the final of the championship, after last year The Reds did not give their opponents any chance. It will be played in the best-of-five system, the first match will take place on June 4 at The Peace and Friendship Stadium.
Domestically, Olympiakos has a perfect season, 22-0 in the regular season, the best defense and the only team that passed the goal of 2000 points scored (2029). In the playoffs they played with the same intensity, eliminating Aris in the quarterfinals with 2 crushing victories (97-73; 82-58), with Vezenkov scoring 42 points. In the semifinals, they performed against PAOK, 3:0 (83-65, 97-77, 75-54), Vezenkov being the best scorer in 2 of the 3 matches. The Bulgarian is the best player with 17.6 points and 5.9 rebounds, Canaan has 10.0 points and Sloukas has 8.0 points and 5.4 assists.
Panathinaikos is trying to rise to the level of the opponents, but at the moment the results are far from expectations. They finished the regular season with 6 defeats in 22 rounds, quite a lot for a Euroleague team. In the quarterfinals, they passed Kolossos Rhodes (85-76, 89-47), but in the semifinals they had problems with third place, Peristeri winning 3-2 in the decisive match (101-57, 58-73, 89-80, 71 -77, 81-67) thanks to Grigonis who played some good matches. Without the best scorer this season, Bacon (13.2 points, 3.9 assists, 3.5 rebounds), The Greens rely on Grigonis (12.9 points, 2.9 assists, 3.0 rebounds) and Paris Lee (11.3 points).
Olympiakos has already become a nightmare for their rival, with 6 straight wins this season over PAO. They won both regular season matches, Euroleague matches, and the Supercup final and the Cup semifinal. After these victories, The Reds reached 13 consecutive victories in the derby, a realistic goal for Panathinaikos would be a victory in this series, I don’t think there will be a question of the champion.
Valentin Petruta
Photo credit: EuroLeague
