Olympiacos advances to the Euroliga final against Fenerbahçe

Olympiacos beat Fenerbahçe (79-61) this Friday at the start of the ‘Final Four’ of the Euroleague held at the Telekom Center in Athens, awaiting the Spanish rival who will emerge from the other semifinal between Real Madrid and Valencia Basket.

The Greek team was a hammer, convinced that they were facing the definitive assault on their fourth European Cup 13 years later. Close to home, those from Piraeus took the reins of the first semi-final from the start, but Fenerbahçe reacted to every blow until they ran out of gas, patience, and no response.

With the strong defense that characterizes it, Olympiacos, once again the favorite for the title, pulled out an ace in each quarter to knock down the current champion. Tyler Dorsey (15 points), Alec Peters (17) and Aleksander Vezenkov (16), in that order, pushed the Turkish team to the limit in each quarter. Fenerbahçe rose for the last time at the beginning of the last quarter (56-49), but Georgios Bartzokas’ men finished off their first goal.

The ‘F4′ started with little success and a lot of trench, and a Dorsey that accumulated almost more points than Fenerbahçe in 15 minutes (29-12). The 11-0 run in the second quarter was replicated as best it could by the Istanbul team, hampered from very early on by a poor success of three. However, two triples in a row by Tarik Biberovic allowed the champion to stay despite Peters’ performance (33-24) and the Greek physique who won the personal line with authority.

After the break, Vezenkov had yet to wake up and the star of the last Euroleagues scored 14 points in the third quarter, again in tow for Sarunas Jasikevicius’s team. From 44-24, Fenerbahçe came back to life (44-34), but Olympiacos noted the bill for each cartridge of energy spent by its rival.

Talen Horton-Tucker, Nando de Colo and Biberovic did not prevent another Greek escape before the last quarter (56-41), and those from ‘Saras’ clung to the throne. Then, those of Bartzokas, more solid and with a better wardrobe in Athens, launched their order. Evan Fournier left his signature, Nikola Milutinov (13 rebounds) scored under the hoops and Peters without fail finished the semifinal against a Fenerbahçe without the strength to attempt anything more than the triple (8/36).