By Nikos Varlas
In every battle of the “eternal rivals” in Greece, there is usually an entrée and a disert. For 40 minutes basketball is the king, but before and after there are many “sideshows” off the court.
In the Cup final that was played this Saturday (Panathinaikos – Olympiakos 71-70) there was – as usually – bad blood that was started this year just weeks before, after the home win of Olympiacos for the league, an escalation for the following days and finally a joint press release from the two clubs asking for… peace between the rival fans just one day before the game. That press release was something rare for the Greek reality.
But after the game, one of the main protagonists was Olympiacos center Joey Dorsey, even thought he was on the court for just 11 minutes! It was the first time that after a game wearing the red and white shirt he was not smiling when he was leaving the locker room. You could see his anger and a little later every body knew the reason.
“I feel that they didn’t let me play. In a very hard game, I had three fouls from the start and when I was trying to gain my rhythm in the third quarter, I take this night very hard, extremely hard. I am a big part of Olympiacos’s defense, but I could not play”, said the American but the quote that will gain more attention and will be mentioned in the Greek league finals is what was followed…
“In the first play of the game, they tried to hit me on purpose. They tried to hurt me! It was really cruel. So I don’t feel any respect for Panathinaikos and its players. No respect! I am just waiting for the finals”, said Dorsey with Nick Calathes being the main target of his quote, because he did the foul that enraged Dorsey.
Is he right? No, he is wrong. Yes, Calathes’s foul was really hard and the fall of Dorsey on the floor could injured him. And Dorsey spoke out having the American mentality, he didn’t hide his feeling, something that regularly happens with many Greek professional athletes in similar situations.
But there is also a question. If Dorsey is angry from now on in every game against Panathinaikos, who will gain? He, Olympiacos or maybe… the Greens?