Greek Finals 2017: Olympiakos-Panathinaikos

[R1ou]

With a full roster there's little doubt which is the better team. You lost Gist and almost collapsed in the first half of the season whilst we reached the final minus Hackett and Lojeski.

[EverGreen]

With a full roster there's little doubt which is the better team. You lost Gist and almost collapsed in the first half of the season whilst we reached the final minus Hackett and Lojeski.

If that excuse satisfies you, then I have no problem with it.

Fact is Pascual tied Sferopoulos in chains in games 4 and 5. You had lost both games after 25 mins.

[Tevfik1907]

No doubt PAO deserved to win, but to claim that Olympiacos is not the best team in Greece after such a steady season in Euroleague and being a finalist, is not realistic. It's clear they shut down after the final, mentally and physically.

Olympiacos wasn't good in the Euroleague playoffs either, they were almost going to lose to Efes while they had the home court advantage. Efes beat them twice. And this Efes couldn't even make it through to the Turkish finals, lost to BJK with 3-1. I told Oly fans that we beat this Efes with +39 but they didn't listen. They beat CSKA in the semi-finals, but CSKA wasn't playing good for a while and Oly were a little lucky in the game not to mention CSKA was heavily the favorite of the game (the bets were 2.50 to 7.00) and CSKA probably effected by the pressure due to being heavily favorite as well. Then we beat them in the final with +15. Easier than Real Madrid game. To be honest the true final for us was the R.Madrid game and we won it thanks to Udoh's great performance.

[EverGreen]

Game highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkcM-tehAMI

15.000 fans receive team at OAKA at 2:30 am!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4K3WQ2Z0So

[DainBramaged]

Olympiacos wasn't good in the Euroleague playoffs either, they were almost going to lose to Efes while they had the home court advantage. Efes beat them twice. And this Efes couldn't even make it through to the Turkish finals, lost to BJK with 3-1. I told Oly fans that we beat this Efes with +39 but they didn't listen. They beat CSKA in the semi-finals, but CSKA wasn't playing good for a while and Oly were a little lucky in the game not to mention CSKA was heavily the favorite of the game (the bets were 2.50 to 7.00) and CSKA probably effected by the pressure due to being heavily favorite as well. Then we beat them in the final with +15. Easier than Real Madrid game. To be honest the true final for us was the R.Madrid game and we won it thanks to Udoh's great performance.

Efes played good basketball in the F4 and Olympiacos had a couple of bad games. Olympiacos had a very good regular season (they lost 3-4 easy games at the end so that they could rest), they came back from a 1-2 against Efes and they beat CSKA right after. I think people are eager to forget when there is no trophie evolved, saying that it was a matter of luck, and that's unfair.

[Tevfik1907]

Efes played good basketball in the F4

Efes never played in F4 since 2001, they played only in the playoffs.

and Olympiacos had a couple of bad games. Olympiacos had a very good regular season (they lost 3-4 easy games at the end so that they could rest), they came back from a 1-2 against Efes and they beat CSKA right after. I think people are eager to forget when there is no trophie evolved, saying that it was a matter of luck, and that's unfair.

Oly and Pana have the same winning record in the regular EL season. 19-11

Pana just seemed bad in the playoffs because they played with a much better team and Oly seemed better because they played with a bad Efes. The only surprise was the CSKA game and it was a very bad day for CSKA. If it was a best of 5 series, I am pretty sure CSKA would win it. Final Fours aren't fair always.

[Levenspiel]

Efes played good basketball in the F4 and Olympiacos had a couple of bad games. Olympiacos had a very good regular season (they lost 3-4 easy games at the end so that they could rest), they came back from a 1-2 against Efes and they beat CSKA right after. I think people are eager to forget when there is no trophie evolved, saying that it was a matter of luck, and that's unfair.

Olympiakos had a bad ending, otherwise I think they had a great season. Don't bother with a certain delusional person here who likes to distort reality with beliefs/emotions.

[Tevfik1907]

Olympiacos had a great season because they beat Efes with 3-2 ? Even BJK did better. I guess that would satisfy Efes fans like you but as you know Efes couldn't even make it to the Turkish finals right now, they are terrible as a team and as a club. There is no ''delusion'' here, moderators should be more careful with the words that they are choosing.

[R1ou]

Olympiakos reached the EL final with a budget similar to Brose's and missing 2 starters in the most important part of the season. Everything else doesn't make sense^^.

[DainBramaged]

Efes never played in F4 since 2001, they played only in the playoffs.



Oly and Pana have the same winning record in the regular EL season. 19-11

Pana just seemed bad in the playoffs because they played with a much better team and Oly seemed better because they played with a bad Efes. The only surprise was the CSKA game and it was a very bad day for CSKA. If it was a best of 5 series, I am pretty sure CSKA would win it. Final Fours aren't fair always.

Play-offs is what I meant, thanks for the correction.
Oly didn't try much at the last games of the regular season because they had secured the home court advantage, that's the only reason they had the same record with Pana. I didn't say Oly is a better team because they made it to the F4, I'm talking about overall performance. Pana is fortunate to win the Greek league final playing bad basketball, as in a lot of games this year, unlike Oly who had a great season with bad results at the end (as Levenspiel said too).

[Tevfik1907]

Play-offs is what I meant, thanks for the correction.
Oly didn't try much at the last games of the regular season because they had secured the home court advantage, that's the only reason they had the same record with Pana.

That doesn't mean Oly played those games for losing it. Pana was successful enough to secure the 4th place, it was because our missing players such as Bogdan, but still it's a success.

I didn't say Oly is a better team because they made it to the F4, I'm talking about overall performance. Pana is fortunate to win the Greek league final playing bad basketball, as in a lot of games this year, unlike Oly who had a great season with bad results at the end (as Levenspiel said too).

I am pretty sure you've no idea what you are talking about because Pana played much better than Oly in the entire Greek Finals, they should've won the first and even the third game. They were already playing better than Oly and then Oly ended up by beaten by +15. Pana deserved to be the champion of Greece.

[DainBramaged]

That doesn't mean Oly played those games for losing it. Pana was successful enough to secure the 4th place, it was because our missing players such as Bogdan, but still it's a success.

You can't make conclusions from indifferent games, is all I'm saying. While it mattered, Oly was 4 wins ahead of Pana.

I am pretty sure you've no idea what you are talking about because Pana played much better than Oly in the entire Greek Finals, they should've won the first and even the third game. They were already playing better than Oly and then Oly ended up by beaten by +15. Pana deserved to be the champion of Greece.

Yes they did play better in the finals and they deserved to be champions. You missed my point.

[Victorious]

It seems to me that two factors culminated to the victory of Pao. The first one is the fact that Pao was at its best during the play offs. The second reason is that Olympiacos was worn off. They lacked energy.

Congrats to Pao!!

[EverGreen]

It seems to me that two factors culminated to the victory of Pao. The first one is the fact that Pao was at its best during the play offs. The second reason is that Olympiacos was worn off. They lacked energy.

Congrats to Pao!!

Oly played a total of 2 games more than PAO. Bow-wow.

The truth is that Pascual beat Sferopoulos comprehensively with big wins ( 2 in SEF) 5-4 the record between them.

He outcoached him in every single game Cup, League and Finals series. He annihilated the Spanoulis- Printezis partnership and made them both look like street players. I'm quite sure Xavi studied Fener's game in the final where both Printezis and Spanoulis were made to look ordinary. He played a trick playing 3 forwards Singleton, Gist and Gabriel which was effective because they could all mark Spanoulis and destroy both his driving to the basket but also his assists since he constantly had taller and more athletic players in front of him. I even noticed that when our guards were marking him they were basically shutting down his right dribble and would encourage him to go left when our forwards would wait for him. The guard (either Pappas, Calathes or James would play "ball defence" and leave the aerial defence for the forwards. No Spanoulis. No party. Simple as that.

Spanoulis last 3 games in the series:

3/19 fg, 17 assists, 11 t.o's

Calathes last 3 games:

15/29 fg 10 assists, 4 t.o's

Both Calathes and Bourousis raised there games and played at their best. Especially in the last 2 games. Bourousis was used perfectly. Whenever he was on the court he would be fed the ball and would either post Oly centres or split a pass to the weak -side for a free 3-p shot for Pappas, James, Rivers and Calathes who shot well for 3.

I'm actually disappointed with the team because both games 4 and 5 were 30 point games. We'd lose our concentration and do silly things. Maybe it's better this way because Sferopoulos who is very average and one- dimensional would have been sacked.

[usagre]

Is it just me or is there something inherently wrong with a system that crowns its main champion first and then goes back and crowns individual league champions ? It would be like having the NCAA tournament and subsequent final four decided and then going back and having the Acc or Big East tournaments. It doesn't make sense to me because of the mental state of the teams, and often even the makeup of the teams is different. For example 1996 Panathinaikos wins the European title and then has to somehow match the intensity, purpose and motivation to play a playoff series to determine the Greek Champion ? That seems backwards to me. I don't know if logistically it can be altered but I think it would make more sense.