Vezenkov and two ‘foreigners’ raid Palau

HE Sasha Vezenkov He’s a great player, that’s undoubted, and ex Blaugrana has shown that once again. with 20 points and 7 rebounds. The least expected was when, with him, Giannoulis Larentzakis scored four three-pointers in the final quarter, penalizing a local team and Joel Bolomboy with 12 points, seven rebounds and +20.

The shootout was a rerun of the saddest game in the Euroleague, in which the semi-final losers played in the Final Four. In Belgrade, azulgranas prevailed and took the game more intensely after losing to Madrid in the semi-finals (the Greeks did this against an Anadolu Efes team that lifted their title for the second consecutive time.

It came after Azulgranas won their first league win against Cazoo Baskonia and the Greeks with very high morale, beating Panathinaikos in the Super Cup final. Opposite him are former Barça coach Georgios Bartzokas and two other ‘ex’s on the track like Sasha Vezenkov and Greek Kostas Papanikolaou.

Barça went short in the first half. Overall good in defensive duties, I made some mistakes on Alec Peters’ sign, the big problem was on offense. Satoransky continues to show that he is still far from the player the team needed due to ankle issues, and Rokas Jokubaitis failed to comment on his excellent guest defense.

At the start, the Barcelona team reacted well to Walkup and Vezenkov’s three pointers (4-6) with three shots by Sertaç Şanlı and Nikola Kalinic, making a minute 16-10 with Joel Bolomboy’s interception. two plus one (16-13 at the end of the first quarter).

The second domestic quarter on the offensive was disastrous until they added seven casualties to the first two, four by ‘Sato’. Moreover Kostas Sloukas’ offense was keyone of the masters of ‘cart control’ that has orbited Barça in the past.

Higgins made a great basket (18-13) and was replaced by the best guest minutes. With two pluses from Sloukas and Tarik Black and a three-pointer from Peters, Olympiakos took back the lead on the scoreboard (22-24).

The former Baskonia player struggles on defense, but is deadly on offense and the Barça defense gave him another triple shot from the front (25-30). The best thing was that the break came quickly.. And we are lucky that he has not lost his intensity behind Barça. Despite this, the first half is 28-34 and a lot will change on offense.

The game changed in the third quarter, just as it did against Baskonia on Sunday, but as the minutes went by it was not confirmed. The improvement that day was on the defensive and this Friday Nico Laprovittola as the main reference. The problem is there is no continuity.

The Argentine reduced their away advantage with eight points in a row and The Abrines brought the current runners-up to a single point with a triple (37-38).however, the team collapsed again and made random chaotic attacks after ‘Lobezno’ (47-46) two free throws.

With a whistling Canaan (remember when Palau ordered UNICS to shut up) and a Bolomboy who did a lot, Olympiakos had a 0-11 streak and closed the third quarter up eight points. After a shot by Higgins for ‘Instant Replay’ (49-57).

Higgins’ best moments in months opened the door to the comeback (57-60), but it was a mirage and much of the blame lay in local offensive errors and an unexpected lead character, Giannoulis Larentzakis. Greek hits four threes in a row and seals Greek victory (70-80). And next week Madrid comes the second day. This team has a lot to improve and little time.