Below is the live blog of Olympiacos’ 69-52 victory over CSKA Moscow in the Euroleague semifinals.
First Half
On two instances in the first quarter, CSKA found a way inside Olympicaos’ pick and roll defense, which notoriously overextends: first, Olympiacos hedged aggressively on Milos Teodosic and the Serb took advantage of it, wrapping a pass inside to Nenad Krstic who had Stratos Perperoglou on his hip. Perperoglou stood with his arms up, and Krstic short-armed the hook.
Several possessions later, Teodosic backpedaled the double team his way before splitting it with a quick dribble. He freed himself up for an open jumper from around the free throw line but clanked it.
Those misses were very characteristic of CSKA’s first-half struggles: wriggle loose from Olympiacos’ defense, only to miss the open look. Also, Teodosic and Krstic being terrible became a trend.
Scroll down to Sinan Guler’s Q&A, where he says Olympiacos knows what do do with the rock when they get into trouble. Then look no further than the final few seconds of the first quarter, when Acie Law dribbled his way into a corner and then found Sloukas as the double team came. Kostas knocked it down with about three seconds left, the Reds led 24-17 at the first quarter break.
For Teodosic, He’s just cold turned to Oh no, I think that’s Bad Milos, guys after a leaning 23-footer went short and wide from the wing and another three from the top super early in the shot clock went begging. These are the shots Milos takes when Milos is frustrated, and when Milos is losing. Coincidentally, they’re also the shots he hits when he’s singing hot, and when CSKA’s surging. It’s been this dichotomy that’s kept CSKA’s season interesting, and makes Milos a must-watch whether he’s on fire or bursting into flames.
Halftime | CSKA Moscow 40 – 28 Olympiacos
Need a sequence to summarize Kyle Hines’ total and absolute domination of Nenad Krstic? I’ve got plenty. Here’s my favorite: Nenad Krstic goes up to grab his own offensive rebound inside and seemingly has it within his grasp when Kyle Hines shoots into the air and wrestles it away in one swift, violent motion. Krstic turns tail and runs back on defense. Olympiacos’ fans (are the only ones there? I think they’re the only ones there.) go nuts. Momentum swells.
Sequence continue on opposite end of the floor: Kostas Sloukas shoots from the wing and it goes wanting. But Kyle Hines is there, to clean up the miss and drop it right back in amidst flailing arms and heads that stand half a foot taller than this. The lead grows to 13 points, 36-49.
Olympiacos added four more before the break.
End of Third Quarter | CSKA Moscow 36 – 53 Olympiacos
You can tell Stratos Perperoglou’s won a championship with Panathinaikos. First a nerveless triple to put the lead at 19, a very symbolic deficit. That’s how big CSKA’s lead got last season before the Reds started charging. No sign of said charge from CSKA at this point, though.
You can tell Stratos Perperoglou’s won two championships with Panathinaikos. Next, another three to lift that lead up to 20. For purposes of both symbolism and realism, I’ll bury the Russians here. Was obligated to keep the barn door open at 19, but nobody said I had to respect the chances of a 20-point comeback.
More Perperoglou: catches the ball on the wing with a path to the baseline if he wants it, with his straight-line speed. Instead, Stratos waits on his teammates to join him, protects the ball and patiently dribbles before hitting Gieorgi Shermadi for a deuce.
Zeljko Obradovic taught Stratos well. But I wonder if Stratos ever expected such a performance to come in Olympiacos red after winning two ‘chips in Panathinaikos green. Now he’ll have a chance to
Breaking: Milos Teodosic hits a shot, finally. Alarmingly, nobody is under the impression that he’ll hit ten more. This thing is over.
Full Time | CSKA Moscow 52 – Olympiacos 69
MVP of the evening is Kyle Hines without a shadow of an inkling of a doubt. He was an animal on both ends of the floor, defending the screener well, being the screener even better at times. He used his low center of gravity to shove Krstic off of the block the entire game, and ultimately helped hold the Euroleague’s leader in index rating (17.9) at a season-low -3.
On offense, Hines dragged the center of CSKA’s defense with him on rolls and used his quick feet and excellent hands to snatch Spanoulis and Sloukas’ lobs and go up angrily strong. He finished with 13 points (5-of-10 shooting, 3-of-3 from the stripe), 10 boards and two steals. The undersized center had his shot blocked twice, but didn’t let CSKA’s size force him into a single turnover.
Here’s Kyle immediately after the game with Sam Meyerkopf of Euroleague Adventures:
A day after being named the Euroleague MVP, Vassilis Spanoulis never really needed to furrow his brow and buckle in for this one, as nine guys scored, all finishing with five or more. Spanoulis had just eight on the night and missed all six of his threes. Olympiacos got the win, so I imagine they’ll take that.
Big night for the Macedonian, Pero Antic, who tied Hines with 13 points to lead the Reds. The bulky, tattooed power forward made sure to shoot once more from deep than he did from inside, an Antic staple in big games: 2-of-4 from two, 2-of-5 from three.
This is why we keep inviting Pero to big events.
Back to CSKA’s hellacious night. Krstic made just 1-of-5 from the field and collected just two boards on the night (that’s how those index ratings tank). Trying to think of ways Krstic positively affected today’s game makes my brain hurt. This man is an All-Euroleaguer, a week-in, week-out force. At his best, he finds excellent position and can be deceptively nimble when carving out a clean look in the post. Tonight, Olympiacos made him look rigid, old—like he was pushing 40—and unsure of his shot selection. One of his four misses came from 19 feet out. Another was a turnaround jumper from 14 feet after Hines picked his ass up and moved it out there.
Nenad’s peformance was terrible, but it won’t be as memorably terrible as the night Teodosic had. We knew Milos would be in the spotlight by his own volition, but even I wouldn’t have believed night could go so dreadfully wrong for one of the world’s shaggiest enigmas.
Milos missed all four of his twos, hit one (insignificant, fourth quarter) three of his five attempts and his two turnovers don’t even begin to quantify the bad decisions Milos made tonight, nor the variety or consistency of his mistakes.
Poor shot selection is one thing, but this is Europe’s most creative passer off the pick and roll, and Teodosic registered only one assist despite playing with a stable of seven-foot targets who had a few inches, on average, against the shorter Reds.
Shorter, but hungrier. Last year, this year. Sunday? I wouldn’t doubt it, although Real Madrid or Barcelona should give them a better test than that lethargic group of CSKA Moscow impersonators.
If Olympiacos can play like this again, they’ll be back-to-back Euroleague champions.
Next game: Barcelona Regal vs. Real Madrid (21:00 Central European, 3:00 Eastern)
To hear how to beat Madrid, CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos from a guy who’s done all three, hit the next page.