Olympiacos - Monaco
International - Euroleague, Playoffs, Semifinal
The Basketball Expert
Olympiacos survived a thriller against Fenerbahce in the Euroleague quarterfinals. If Kostas Sloukas hadn't hit a buzzer-beater three-pointer to win game number three, we probably wouldn't be watching red and whites from Piraeus in Kaunas. And that would be completely undeserved after a season like this. According to the budget, they are not among top five powerful clubs in Europe. However, they are the best on the floor. The biggest credit for that goes to Georgios Bartzokas, who was named the best coach of the year in the Euroleague for the second year in a row. Ball flow in Olympiacos offense is impressive. Sasha Vezenkov is MVP and is sometimes able to score 20 or more points while only putting the ball on the floor a few times. As the season progresses, so does Sloukas. For a reason, he has been one of the best floor generals in Europe for a decade. Thomas Walkup is primus inter pares on defense, alongside a few excellent 3&D players like Kostas Papanikolaou, Shaq McKissic, Giannoulis Larentzakis and Alec Peters. According to the defensive rating (107.9), Olympiacos was the best defense in the Euroleague this season, while only Partizan had a more lethal offense. That says it all.
Already in its second season in the Euroleague, Monaco managed to qualify for the Final Four. This was club ambition and they didn't hide it since last summer when they put together an extremely powerful team. Everything was built around Mike James, who was also there last season. Backcourt has been upgraded with Jordan Lloyd and Elie Okobo and both have made big contributions. After all, Loyd was key man in game number five against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Just like Olympiacos, Monaco has a large number of quality defenders. Everything starts with John Brown on that side of the floor, who can defend all positions. In two things, this team is outstanding. They have the fewest turnovers (10.6) per game, which is impressive if you know James is there. Monaco controls rhythm in the right way and they will have to do that in this semi-final as well. Also, they have the most offensive rebounds (12.3) on average. To beat Olympiacos, it is necessary for them to win the battle under the basket.
Monaco is one of two clubs that defeated Olympiacos both times in the Euroleague regular season. Fact is that conceptually they do not fit them. Olympiacos hits 60.1% of two-point shots, which is the best in this competition. However, they had very poor percentages against Monaco in both games played. They must have learned a lot from those clashes. In all quarterfinal series, experience came to the fore. Here, it is on reigning champions of Greece side. They came to Kaunas with intention to win the Final Four and will consider anything else a failure. This is fourth Final Four for coach Bartzokas. Sloukas and Papanikolau won this competition in the past, and the whole team learned a lot last year. On the other hand, no one in Monaco has ever been on the Final Four except James. Olympiacos was the best team in the regular season for a reason and it's hard to imagine them losing to Monaco for the third time in a row. They know what they did wrong against them and it can be fixed. For sure, ball pressure will be significantly higher in defense and they will do everything they can to force Monaco's guards to make mistakes. With Moustapha Fall, they can control rebounds, which will be very important. It won't be too easy for Olympiacos, but in the end a place in the final will be waiting for them.
Pistol Pete
Regardless of the fact that Olympiacos is the team that has so far shown the most diverse and complete basketball in the Euroleague this season - the Greek giant is not at all a clear favorite against Monaco, in the semi-finals of the Euroleague in Kaunas, Lithuania.
The first match at the F4 tournament is a spectacle, which puts Olympiacos in a situation to play against an opponent who is their bogey team. Both times this season, Monaco managed to beat the favourites, the club from the port of Athens, Piraeus. Last season, in the quarter-final series against Monaco, only in the decisive fifth match and in front of their fans, in a dramatic ending, Olympiacos managed to win F4 place.
These teams have played nine Euroleague matches so far, starting with the first one in November 2021. Only once, in their first match (86:65), did Olympiacos manage to completely outplay this opponent. This season, the team from the principality on the Côte d'Azur demonstrated its quality against the Greek club - that they are capable of celebrating even in a slower pace of the game (64:60 at home), but also away from home in an attacking competition (81:76).
Both teams reached the F4 tournament through dramatic quarterfinal series. The reason why Monaco is such an unfavorable rival for Olympiacos is the fact, that it is a team that is similarly conceived, with dominant athletes in the same positions.
There is even an impression that in the event of an uncertain ending in the last two minutes, Monaco has more individuals with extra quality, who can solve attacks in "one-on-one" situations. In addition to exceptional guards Mike James and Jordan Loyd (both of whom can also play superbly) - an important factor in the attack is yet another fantastic guard Elie Okobo, who is averaging 12.5 points and 3.5 assists in the Euroleague this season.
During the league part of the season, Olympiacos had three fewer defeats, and they are statistically more dominant with the defensive rebounds, and will have an important task to control the opponent's offensive rebounds. Also, the Greek team has more than five assists on average than Monaco, but they also shoot three-pointers significantly better (with over 37 percent on average). Monaco guards have shown during the season that they know how to stop three-point shots by Olympiacos players, and in the F4 tournament, the percentages of realization from distance are generally lower.
Sasha Vezenkov, Olympiacos' outstanding winger and the team's top scorer (17.2 points per game) has yet to prove that he is a player for big games. One gets the impression that he is facing the greatest pressure of expectations, and that the Monaco team is relieved overall, in this historic duel for them, because they reached F4 for the first time. There are many reasons why you should believe in an uncertain duel until the very end in Kaunas.