Legendary back to back – THE NEWS

The legends are written by legends and the basketball Olympiacos is one of them. He has his own special place in the European Pantheon, having conquered the top three times, and is in just four teams in the history of the event since the Final Four was established in the modern era in 1989, which has managed to make back to back and defend its title.

As Yugoplastika did (1989, 1990, 1991), Maccabi Tel Aviv (2004, 2005) and Anadolu Efes (2021, 2022).

From the city and the boss of Printezis with CSKA, in London with Spanoulis’ triapical bombing with Real and while George Bardzokas had succeeded Dusan Ivkovic.

But the Reds, the achievement in relation to the other European teams is special, as they managed to reach the title in 2012, with Dusan Ivkovic outside the parquet and Vasilis Spanoulis inside, but most importantly with a new philosophy that dominated the European Basketball years and in the years ahead!

Olympiacos is one of four teams in Euroleague history that have successfully won the European Championship title

Changes and return

It was June 27, 2011 shortly after Panathinaikos’ lost championship finale, with Olympiacos having many complaints from arbitration and institutions, with the announcement of the Angelopoulos brothers falling as a thunderbolt in the air and ending:

« All these years we have been struggling with a ‘system’, which stubbornly reacts by constantly undermining our efforts to get what is worth the team and our world.

Based on the above, and having exhausted the potential that goes hand in hand with morality, law and logic, we are disgusted, with heart pain, from our Olympic and Greek basketball.

We thank all those who believed us, supported us and fought with us.  »

Dusan Ivkovic and Vasilis Spanoulis were in the team, who was surprised to see the events just a year after moving from Panathinaikos, who changed the history of the Piraeus team.

But to do so, it took the presidents to hear the feeling and not finally leave. They just got into a new philosophy (compared to the early years and the lots of money they had put in particular after 2009 when they got the shares from Socrates Kokkalis), threw the budget and proceeded with a composition with several young and hopeful Greeks,

Papaloukas, Teodosic, Bouroussi, Jamon Gordon and with the exception of Lazaros Papadopoulos and Peros Antic, the team was filled with new blood. Sloukas, Mantzaris, Katsivelis, were added next to Papanikolaou, while two rocks came to the positions of the other two foreigners, Kielin Lucas and Matt Howard.

The club had completed 14 years without a championship, from the historic Triple Kraun in 1997 with Coach then the Great Dusan Ivkovic, who stayed at the steering wheel with new data in 2011, having a talent for working (and) with young children. It was the season that, besides the already great Vasilis Spanoulis, the legend of George Printzis, Kostas Sloukas and Kostas Papanikolaou, was renowned, and the « Heraklis pocket » Kyle Heinz, who was discovered by Dundas and Dundas, was taken away by Dundas, who was discovered by Dundas. Bamberg.

London 2013: With George Bartzokas’ training recital and awesome appearances by his players, the title of European champion was left in Piraeus

The course

The team had its ups and downs when it took Joey Dorsey and Esi Lo when near the Christmas holidays and was the move that permanently changed the data of the year.

Dorsey, who even lost Lei AC as a Basconia player, became the team’s defensive catalyst (with Dundas and especially Vangelis Angelou playing the role of the psychologist many times to keep him alert).

The Reds entered the top-16 and passed through Turkey in the quarter-finals behind the mighty CSKA, where they lost twice, but the pear had the tail back. Siena was the last obstacle before the Final Four, and then the absolute apostasy with victories over Barcelona in the semifinals of Constantinople, and the overthrow of the century in the final with CSKA with Printzis’ assist (62-61). A little earlier, the Reds had foul on Raymund Siskauska for two shots.

« You seem to lose, » Sloukas Antic asked on the bench, with the latter answering: « There is no case. »

Siskauskas lost both, and had to lose 11 years a couple of shots! And then a story was written.

Dundas in the halftime had artificially labeled them mainly in Spanoulis in front of everyone, because he knew he could. The kids trumpet the counterattack after 28 ‘and -19 (53-34) with a 28-8 series in the last 10 minutes. The epic of the city had been completed. Papanikolaou had 9 points in the semifinals and 19 in the final without losing a shot. Sloukas, Mantzaris close and Spanoulis with Printzis the perfect twin. With Lo, Hines and Dorsey in the final, but with an Oscars.

Dundas in the short feast the same night, in a center of Constantinople, along with his wife Nena and his associates played his role … a gendarmerie and gathered the players early after the finals of the championship began in a few days in a few days.

Coaching

It all looked ideally, but Dusan Ivkovic left in the summer as he had no further decline in budget with George Bardzokas succeeding him. Dorsey left this year, the team won the final « survival » with Cedevita and continued to ’16’ to start the upheavals. In the playoffs with Efes, a… slap on the ball by Jammond Gordon at the end of the 4th match brought the series equal (2-2) and in the SEF the Turkish team scored 15 points (38-23) but Spanoulis and Printezis returned to the classroom,

Where everyone witnessed a coaching recital by coach Bardzokas with Olympiacos reaching the back to back triumph, playing in a low tempo with CSKA Moscow in the semifinals, winning mainly with the defense and two days later.

The Reds lost 27-10 early in the final, but in the second half their leader Vasilis Spanoulis was « fired », who ruthlessly bombed the Madrilene basket with 5 three-pointers and a total of 22 points in one half. With Esi Lo, Kyle Heinz, Costas Sloukas, Stratos Perperoglou and Peros Antic being catalytic.

It was the absolute triumph for Olympiacos, who had actually changed to change all the philosophy of European basketball and pass another motif on which the rest of the teams would try to build.

The Reds did it in their own way and wrote (again) story.