Sasha Vezenkov leaves no doubt for Olympiacos

In the first half, Olympiacos wowed us with modular basketball. In the second, Sasha Vezenkov decided to leave no doubt. A convincing win over Fenerbahce saw them advance to Sunday’s title game at the Euroleague Final Four. Emmet Ryan shares his thoughts from Athens.

Sasha Vezenkov has won all the individual accolades as well as the full set of domestic trophies. He entered the OAKA, with a sea of red greeting him, with one mission. He has been to the Euroleague Final Four plenty of times with Olympiacos but has never left a victor.

When it came time for Olympiacos to remove all doubt, it was Vezenkov that got it done. Having dominated Fenerbahce with their modular basketball, it was the big Bulgarian that closed the deal and sent them to Sunday’s championship game.

Nerves were expected but…

This was half court basketball. That’s really what Fenerbahce wanted. Unfortunately for them, it was only really working at one end. While Nicolo Melli and Chris Silva were combining well to reduce space on the interior, there wasn’t much working for the reigning champions once they crossed mid-court.

Talen Horton Tucker was trying so hard to unlock something but Olympiacos were shifting with excellence on the perimeter. They drew first blood in the Euroleague Final Four through an ugly Thomas Walkup jumper. A pair of threes from Tyler Dorsey and a smart finish under pressure from Sasha Vezenkov gave them a 10-0 lead with 6 minutes already played.

Through the TV timeout and their own first one, Fener had been devoid of answers. Even the fine work of Nando de Colo off the bench to find Silva in good position twice didn’t work. There were memories of Berlin, where an awful start against Panathinaikos essentially ended the Final Four for Fener before it got going.

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Well, that was necessary

The Olympiacos run eventually stretched to 12-0 before Khem Birch finally got the first points for Fenerbahce. Nando de Colo got a 3 and finally there was some rhythm to them offensively.

De Colo was brought in for a reason. Sarunas Jasikevicius knew his side badly needed someone to fix things when times got stressful. In his final trip to the Euroleague Final Four, he understood the job.

The proof was in what came with the adjustment. Devon Hall, Tarik Biberovic, and THT all got smoother in the tail end of the quarter. Having been asleep to start the most important game of the season, Fener appeared to have survived the nap.

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Next man up

When you take out Tyler Dorsey, Kostas Papanikolaou, and Sasha Vezenkov and insert Tyson Ward, Alec Peters, Evan Fournier, you expect disruption. With Olympiacos, you get continuity and adjustments in one.

This is modular basketball. On the defensive end, their movement remained exquisite as they got back to making life miserable for Fenerbahce. Offensively, Peters and Ward brought just enough variety to puzzle Fener yet their movement was within the flow of the system they entered.

This version of Olympiacos can shift the point of attack without changing the overall form wonderfully. When mastered, it is easy for players to flow in it and utterly brutal for opponents to deal with. Having weathered the initial storm, the second burst put the defending champions in a 17 point hole.

In front of a raucous crowd, Olympiacos got the job done with their modular brand of basketball at the Euroleague Final Four.

You’ve got to stamp on the neck

As they had in the first quarter, Olympiacos slacked off towards the half and Fenerbahce went to the break just 9 points down. Sasha Vezenkov was in no mood for that to stay the case.

A three from a man desperate to finally win at a Euroleague Final Four kicked off a 10-0 burst. That ballooned the lead to 18 before Fener again began chipping away. With every surge, the Reds were making it so much tougher for the defending champions to claw their way back.

Off the ball, Vezenkov harried and hustled. The Euroleague MVP was in workhorse mode to maximise the pressure on Fener. A lay-up on a fast break added some polish before he beat off the attention of both De Colo and Wade Baldwin to grab a defensive board. The subsequent fast break ended with the ball back in his hands for another three.

Living with tension

Considering this game was scoreless before that ugly Walkup shot, it would be fair to say the Reds came to this Euroleague Final Four with some nerves. The core of this group has been together a long time. Sasha Vezenkov has worked wonders with them yet still the one trophy they crave most eludes them.

With Fenerbahce racing into an 8-0 run to start the final quarter, it was easy to say that the nerves weren’t fully gone. In front of a de facto home crowd, albeit in the home of their arch rivals, they had their stumbles. The two nights between now would serve them well to reflect on how they worked through them.

Despite the great weight of expectation and the spells that fell short, they got the job done. This game probably should have been decided by a bigger margin. It certainly suits the Reds that it wasn’t. They got the test they needed. Now there is one last hurdle.

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