By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
BERLIN– If you could pick an aspect of Olympiacos that makes them particularly strong and gives them a certain edge over other squads, an obvious answer would be the team’s frontline. Three centers like Moustapha Fall, Nikola Milutinov and season-changing addition Moses Wright as an extra piece.
Alas, against Real Madrid, they all combined for a total of 2 points. Fall was actually the only to take a shot, one 2-pointr.
The main responsible for forcing Olympiacos‘ centers out of the offensive equation of the team was former two-time EuroLeague DPOY and reigning Final Four MVP Edy Tavares.
“It makes us happy, me and Vince [Poirier],” Tavares told Eurohoops. “I think we did a great job. We know it’s going to be tough for us to play against them. They are big, they are strong, they are great on offensive rebounds. I think we focused on that one and that helped us win the game.”
Real stormed into the game to go up 28 – 10 in the first quarter and built on that early, yet quite important, to stay in charge for the rest of the semifinal. Tavares trusted that his team would make a statement early simply because he and his teammates wanted to
“We were focused and ready to play against them because respect them so much,” Tavares said. “We know they are a great team and we know that they are super dangerous. That’s why we came focused and ready to to play for 40 minutes.”
Tavares and his teammates were aware of how Olympiacos had that extra chip on their shoulder after what happened in the 2023 Final. And they were prepared for that, simply because themselves had been in similar situation.
“I think we felt the same,” Tavares mentioned. “When we lost against Efes by 1 point, we felt the same feeling like them. We know what’s that feeling. That’s why we came ready to play against them. We know when the team is looking for their revenge and when their time to come.