[ad_1]
In a year in which the bar is nowhere to be found (ss: no one in the team has defined the line between success and failure), winning the Euroleague debut is important mainly for psychological reasons. . Panathinaikos OPAP beat Khimki (76-78), an opponent who will chase the eighth during this year’s regular season. Unlike clover.
ADVERTISING
There are two trends in the true value of double at the Mytishchi Arena. He is said to have arrived in the most difficult season opener in the club’s modern history, with no three players acquired to play a key role in the rotation (Pierre Jackson, Howard Sand Ross, Aaron White) and with a clear quantitative problem in “one”. and in “2”. The second is that against Panathinaikos OPAP there was a team without its top three managers (Alexei Svend, Stefan Jovic, Eric McCollum) and its highest quality tall (Greg Monroe).
The truth is somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, because Khimki’s absences do not diminish the value of the Greens’ away win in the least (especially since the Greek side had an equally big shortage problem), on the other hand, because it was a victory of character. . Not only because of the green background, but also because it came a week after the disappointing Super Cup appearances.
WHAT HE LOST AND WHAT HE GAINED
The greens presented a diametrically opposite picture to that of October 29, 2019, in the same stadium, when they had suffered a hard defeat (103-86). And that has nothing to do with the productivity of the Rima Curtinaitis players, who fell due to the absence of Alexei Svend and the other commanders (no one had played in the previous three VTB League games, so Khimki had handled situations similar), but with the rebound piece. From the statistical category that stood out over and over again last year as the basic Achilles heel of the shamrock.
On the night of Friday, October 2, Giorgos Vovoras’s players had +7 rebounds relative to their opponents and renewed almost half of the possessions they claimed on the Khimki racket (21 offenses against 24 defenders). This alone was enough to help not … lose the ball due to the many missed peripheral shots (5/23) and the poor result in the ratio of assists to errors (14/13).
Proof: the most decisive basket of the night (the indirect triple of Ioannis Papapetrou) came after an aggressive rebound, at a time when everything hung by a thread with 1’48 ” by the end of the forty minutes.
Panathinaikos OPAP lost in talent and forms of execution compared to last year, lost in imagination and creation in the pick and roll. These are facts and will not change. But the important thing is that it shows that he won in toughness, in fighting spirit and in selfishness. Something that he showed in each of the possessions of yesterday’s game.
THE STATISTICS DO NOT TELL THE TRUTH
If you rely solely on what the stat sheet says, you will see that:
1) Lefteris Bohoridis had 3/9 shots, only 2 assists and 4 errors
2) Ioannis Papapetrou didn’t score on any of the six three-point shots he made
3) Nemanja Nedovic kicked in the Euroleague with 3/10 shots and 0/2 shots
Playing with Khimki is one of the most typical cases of the opinion that numbers are the safest way to lie. In fact, the stat sheet is completely inaccurate for its offering on the Mytishchi Arena floor. And the justification is simple.
Lefteris Bohoridis stayed on court 32’21 ” (only Ioannis Papapetrou played more, and that for a few seconds), knowing that there is no one else who can lead the team from “1”. He got under the … skin of the paper with a “good morning” and did what he had to do. He avoided hype, didn’t shoot the first year during the occupation, provided security in key parts of the game, and conveyed calm and confidence to the team. In the final stretch, it was he who created the conditions for the imbalance in the Russian defense, which brought the indirect triple of Ioannis Papapetrou, and played two amazing defenses on Devin Booker: height of the Russian team, with the result that he loses the control of the ball at this time (at 1’33 ”) and does not execute from the racket, and then blocks the same player, resulting in the easy Defensive Rebound of Ioannis Papapetrou (at 43 ‘).
Ioannis Papapetrou was a true leader. In general from what we have seen so far (friendly and official), he is aware of the team that he leads, he does not have the mentality of a star who has to do basically one thing: act. Everything else. And the proof came (again) Mytishchi Arena. 0/6 triples in other circumstances would be enough to put a footnote on their performance in a match. On Friday night, however, they seemed like a simple flaw.
Meanwhile, Nemanja Nedovic, although he did not do it … he did well in the match, the moment he saw his teammates fight and look defenseless in each contact, he took off the offensive barometer cape and dressed like the tough guy defender. He lowered his torso, worked hard to break all screens, and managed to constantly be in front of his personal opponent. In the final, it was never the cause of a defensive imbalance and of exposing the team. Everything else.
THE CHAMALIDAS AND THE DESPERATE COMMENTS
The game in Moscow was a personal victory for the Hamals. Or those who were not afraid to go … against their role and to serve something different (because it was needed and should have been that way) or those who know where they are and what opportunity they have in their hands – because of the conditions that led them to Panathinaikos OPAP. The most striking example is Leonidas Kaselakis with 6 rebounds (5 were offensive!) In 8’48 ” of participation. Without scoring (he had 0/1 two points and 0/1 three points), without giving assists. And that; He went into the flat and did his job.
It doesn’t matter if instead of Tyrese Rice on the court this time it was Lefteris Bohoridis, if instead of Wesley Johnson it was Leonidas Kaselakis and if instead of Deson Thomas Dinos Mitoglou was called to play more. Comparisons are useless and have nothing to offer. Likewise, the derogatory characterizations for those who accepted the call this year to wear the green jersey.
It is important that they do the work for which they were acquired, as happened in Moscow. And this is not the time of the show and the games of one hundred (100) points in the attack. It is the absolute devotion to what George Vovoras demands, the defensive consistency they offer and the feeling that they are so selfish that they will not give in with the idea of accepting an easy basket from the opponent. Even if they don’t have the talent to reciprocate it over and over on the other side of the court.
THE FOREST AND THE UNDERDOG TITLE
The victory over Khimki in the Euroleague premiere is the tree (and not the forest) and does not guarantee anything in relation to what is to come. Especially since the moment he follows the derby with Olympiakos at OAKA and two consecutive away games (with Villeurbanne and Barcelona) in the first diabolical week of the season.
However, this particular match may reflect the physiognomy the greens can take on during the season. A tough defensive team that does not feel uncomfortable or disadvantaged because it is the underdog in most of the games it will play in the Euroleague, because it is. Of course, it is enough that everyone who steps on the ground each time feels comfortable with it and does not try to present an aspect of himself that alters the big picture, the whole.
Photo credits: Eurokinissi
[ad_2]
