Euroleague Basketball Barcelona 3 ° overcomes Olympiacos in the final
Barcelona obtained the 3rd place finish due to a solid performance in defense as well as in attack, against a decidedly inaccurate Olympiacos Piraeus, in the last European act of the season.
The rotations of the Mpartzokas team, voted best coach of the year, were not enough. Choice admired by all insiders, for how much he has been able to improve the ranking of the Piraeus team.
Great quality of play of Barcelona, almost always ahead
Jasikevicius’ Barcelona put their muscles close to the perimeter once they returned to the pitch from the locker room for the long break. And the 3-point shot did not support the Hellenic team at the moment of the escape of the Catalan basketball players. Unconsciously the team of sailors from Piraeus had given everything, in the game lost a few tenths of a second from the possible minutes of overtime with the reigning champion Efes.
Even if the pride and the healthy will, the mental strength, the grit, the pride, had brought Olympiacos back to the 27 ‘still in the game, at -8. Davies pushed the Greeks back to 10 points and near the 30 ‘Barcelona made it clear that they are a more cohesive team, when they will have to go back to thinking about the Iberian play-offs.
Abrines’ injury worries the Lithuanian coach from this point of view.
The first quarter saw Barcelona always ahead with Laprovittola more committed to playing the game than to go and finish it personally. So much so that in the end his sacrifice keeps Jasikevicius’ team tied, and he will score only 4 points. But finishing 3rd for the Catalan club was too relevant, compared to last season’s 2nd place. And the sting suffered by the defeat in the semifinals with Real Madrid.
Although the gap was minimal, at 10 ‘, 20-18, we immediately saw a painful change of pace, in defense, for Olympiacos. And where the centimeters and the weight do not reach with the muscles, Barcelona’s shooting solutions do not suffer any forcing.
Barcelona always ahead except in one case
Olympiacos are back in the game for the first time, in a decisive way, also with the goodness of the preparation of the shot from distance, with Sloukas, Dorsey and even, from 3, with the long Vezenkov, in a couple of circumstances. Barcelona, on his side, has the great merit of getting involved in the rebounds in defense and in opening the opposing defense through the speed of execution of Calathes, Sanli (16 points, for him) and Mirotic, good at putting himself in the shoes of catch-rebounds, scorer, and even distributor of assists. Even if in this the Greek will be the best, 14 at the end of the day.
Laprovittola’s performance went well in the first quarter and partly in the second. The only time in which the many sportsmen present at the Stark Arena in Belgrade will see Olympiacos in front of them will be at 38-37 then the night will fall, before the long interval. When they return to the field they restart from 45-38.
The second time in which Mpartzokas’s team will be in the third period on horseback with the fourth, at 68-63 thanks to Sloukas, when he starts bombing from the outside, and with Mc Kissic stealing the ball from a naive and slow Mirotic opening the counterattack and closing it with a loud squeeze. Which causes Jasikevicius to call the timeout.
Here Calathes takes the chair, missing the basket before Higgins, 3-point shot, and Mirotic twice. When the Greek takes over Laprovittola in the role of playmaker, Barcelona draws a deep sense of security.
Calathes takes over the team in place of Laprovittola
The darkness for Barcelona had been experienced first at 62-56 and at 64-60. Then on 68-63. But there Nick Calathes demonstrated the difference between a normal play and a champion. And it is right that 1 minute from the end the “bomb” that brings the Catalans to +10 is, rightly, his, from the right side, obliquely.
In this case alone, this silences the astonishing 11,000 spectators of Olympiacos Piraeus. Barcelona are third, the Hellenic team fourth.
Now it’s up to Real Madrid and Efes Anadolu Istanbul. For absolute victory.
The scoreboard of the final for the 3rd place in Europe
BARCELONA-OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS 84-74
Barcelona: Laprovittola 4, Abrines 8, Davies 10, Calathes 9, Mirotic 19, Sanli 16, Jokubaitis 4, Exum 3, Higgins 11, Kuric, Hayes. Allenatore: Sarenas Jasikevicius.
Olympiacos Piraeus: Dorsey 10, Sloukas 14, Mc Kissic 11, Larentzakis 5, Vezenkov 20, Walkup 8, Papanikolau, Printezis, Fall 2, Jean-Charles 2, Martin 2, Lountzis. Allenatore. Gyorgios Mpartzokas.
Partial: 20-18, 25-20 (45-38); 17-18, 22-18.
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