Olympiacos: Patience is a virtue and the three points are a blessing. Blog – Konstantinos Melais

Konstantinos Milais comments on Olympiacos' victory over Monaco and explains the reasons for the “red and white” celebrating the positive result.

Olympiacos has been under unbearable pressure over the past 20 days. Only players, coaches and team personnel can understand its magnitude. Perhaps abnormally high, but let's ignore the defeats to Valencia and Virtus (the way they came about). Now, the 4-4 win over Monaco has weighed heavily on them and they look to the future with more optimism and confidence.

Why If you are not sure of yourself and the abilities of the people around you, you will not be able to achieve much. For example, I remember the certainty of Giorgos Barzoukas' words when he was asked about two months ago if he was thinking about ending the collaboration with Shaquille McKissic and he replied that “Shaq gave us titles, he was important for us.” We, including myself, do not sell players.”

It goes without saying that Shaq (and every Shaq) feels the coach's trust and is ready to return the favor. Just like yesterday with Monaco. It is also understandable that with 14 players on the roster, there will be justifiable resentment from those who don't find time or even a place in the 12. TBut the coach is primarily concerned with winning and then creating opportunities for everyone. Of course, as the season continues, the chances will decrease.

These are matters for Bartzukas to manage, not us.

The win over Monaco was perhaps the most important after the win in OAKA's first show. A stunning match with an intensity reminiscent of April, let alone May. With terrible defenses from both teams. I was watching the match from 10 meters away and I was feeling the pressure and imagining the players.

The “Red and White” continued their winning streak, convincing everyone that they are still a good team this year and won by showing skills, tactics and character on the field. The NBA leads all but one European league. The pressure and how 3 straight wins or 3 straight losses can change a team's standings in such a short period of time is unimaginably exciting.

How Olympiacos controlled the pace

Because of the athleticism and athleticism of its roster, Monaco is no match for the 'red and white'. Therefore, there is a need for adjustments made by Bartzukas with his assistants (Pappas, Buzikas, Triantafilos, Kalavros, Gatzoulis in general do an excellent job and should be remembered from time to time).

Controlling speed was essential and you could control it better when you weren't running around and launching long attacks. This way you rarely fall into the trap of confusing fast basketball with fast basketball. Olympiacos only ran when going through phases of stealing the ball. He finished most of his possessions after 17-18 seconds.

Barzoka's players were patient, which helped them a lot. They distributed the ball well and looked for the best possible option. Monaco with Diallo “leech” on Kanaan, Brown on Peters and Ouattara on Walkup made the task very difficult, but in the end the details were “red and white”.

Because McKissick was pivotal

I mentioned above that Monaco's sportsmanship is at a high level. Olympiacos is far behind in this element, so he wanted it To match her with Shaquille McKissick And Mustafa Fall. Perhaps this is where the answer lies as to why Bartzokas prefers to throw Brazdeikis to the ground before (very well with Armani) Larentzakis. Because of the size. The choice didn't work for him anyway and he quickly changed it.

McKissick entered focused and mostly without a trace of hesitation. His first choice to go to the basket with his favorite vertical game may have failed, but he didn't give up mentally. He hit balls given to him by the opposing defense, he hit the goal and the longer the match went on, the stronger he felt.

Constant falls and “normal” walking.

Bartzukas has seen many of his players perform as well as he would have liked, but I can only point out Vale and Wakab personally. Last month, the French center was considered the best center in the Euroleague and Tavares is remembered at his best. Intimidation in defense, scorer, passer, rebounder. dominant. If Val had strong legs he would be a 2 million plus player. His confidence is now great and this was clearly demonstrated by the personal basket with which he tied the score at 69 points.

However, there was also a computer on the floor. What Walkup did with Monaco was not normal. Although now that I think about it, maybe what he did last month wasn't normal and not what he did yesterday. He greatly limited the execution of Mike James who forced 2-3 air balls, collected 7 rebounds, scored 9 points (including 4 in a critical spot), dished out 9 assists and his only foul came in the final minute!

The American was fully focused, did all those wonderful things that he is used to and shows that he has completely restored his competitive and mental state to the limits that the team needs. “Back on track” as they say in Texas.

Blessing the shot

We've talked at length about the role of the long shot in modern basketball. Great importance. Olympiacos scored seven (7) accurate three-pointers in the second half Especially in matches against a rival team like Monaco who presses in defence, the number is terrible. Two of the team's pitchers have worked very well and alongside Canaan and Peters, McKissic came in and scored yesterday.

Bartjokas entered the last period to win from his defense by choosing five in this direction (Walkap, Goss, McKissick, Petrusev, Milutinov). But without a shooter, he couldn't operate on the ground, so he quickly changed the plan, threw Peters on the court and after a series of bad decisions by Gus (he needs to get some consistency), replaced him with Kanaan and took over the match.

Note: The arbitration problem is more general and I do not refer to a decision from the match. In the Basketball League, in the International Basketball Federation, in the Euroleague. There is a problem with bad referees everywhere. The obstruction shown by the referees when they go to instant replay spoils the rhythm and constitutes an obstacle to basketball itself.

Note 2: Olympiacos travels to Spain to face Barcelona and Baskonia. If he comes back with a win, he will be in a very good position.

Note 3: Sufficient period before the final to play an important role in the development of the derby. The four points scored by captain Kostas Papanikolaou at the end of the third period were crucial as they prevented Monaco from going any distance in the score.