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The final against Burgos will be different from the match against Zaragoza, but as is evident, AEK is preparing little by little, all this time, for the big event on Sunday. And your progress is visible from race to race. It is not easy for a team that is in the beginning of the season to claim a European title, so it has reached a high point of preparation.
Elias Papatheodorou knows it better than anyone, because together with his collaborators they have done the planning, marking the date (4/10) of the final. That AEK is ‘fresh’ and above all in battle position to get the trophy. The Final-8 home run, makes the final victory even more imperative, even if the ‘must’ never enter at the beginning of a year. Only we are not here in the new season, but at the end of the previous one (with the players, however, of the season that officially begins in a few days).
In this absurdity of the year, when the BCL was forced by the coronavirus, AEK had to adjust its plans. Gather a group of veterans, knowing how valuable they will be to him in such matches. The experiences, the performances, but also the class of the Union players are not compared to any other than those that appeared in OAKA. With Papatheodorou, in fact, dividing the time, so that every time he has the ones he wants on the ground, the ‘yellow-blacks’ simplify things and are in the final to complete their objective.
Be careful. The BCL is certainly not a ‘coastal’ event, however AEK’s squad at the moment seems a step above the average and this proved to be far from Zaragoza, which in theory had ambitions, but very fast (with 12-0 and ( 18-8 in the first ten minutes, everything was in a straight line) subjected to what the Greek team wanted.
Speaking of which, the Spanish saw the best players up front. MVP Keith Langford, former Greece National captain Nikos Zisis, 2014 Euroleague Final Four MVP Tyris Rice, players with the class of Thomas Matsioulis and Marcus Slaughter. A tool like Matt Lodzki. Six players who could be the protagonists of any other team. And they are all gathered at AEK.
In fact, from the moment that everyone has accepted the role (and their … age), they can only do well together at AEK. Zaragoza understood it completely, although they had bad luck with the injury of the American Rashid Sulaymon.
They are not alone …
Veterans make a difference, but they are not the only ones. The quartet of Greeks plus an extremely combative center, frame the company of the ‘old men’, with the combination (at the given moment and considering the proportions and capacity of the BCL) causing an explosion in the final.
Vlado Jankovic and Nikos Gikas, along with Lino Chrysikopoulos, are not complementary players. They have a leading role and get what they deserve on the pitch, the young Nikos Rogavopoulos starts and justifies his enormous prospects and the Angolan Yannick Moreira in the basket seems a huge source of energy and strength.
Somehow, AEK seems to justify its construction, for its destiny towards the 5th European final in its history. If there was a right of the fans to be present, surely in the stands of OAKA there would be thousands of her friends on Sunday, to push her in the critical minutes. But there is no greater motivation for this mix of gunpowder-smoked veterans and the Greeks framing them to win the trophy.
An athlete never loses his appetite, no matter how many years pass. Keith Langford, 37, said after the game: “You don’t know how much I want to win the Cup. And yes, I’ve been rehearsing it since I was a kid.“.
Burgos has energy
The truth is that AEK will meet another Spanish team against him. Probably the best who played in this tournament in Athens. He showed the same strength as the Union, he seems to have huge reserves of energy, he plays offensive defense and here is the key to the result of Sunday’s final.
AEK obviously doesn’t want the match to be tense, up and down, not because he can’t take it (it’s a match) but because it’s not his game. With experienced players on the court, the ‘yellows’ want to go more to set attacks, giving the initiative to great scorers like Lankford and Rice.
Control of the ball in each possession is AEK’s concern, hence the few mistakes it has made in both games. Very important in such important matches, a sign of the attention with which AEK wants to play and how much he controls the pace.
If Burgos takes him at a pace beyond his usual standards, then there may be a problem. But if AEK continues to play such a tough defense, prohibiting second attacks, closing corridors, what everyone in the yellow and black team says “young, old for the cup” will apply.
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