By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Based on the schedule, Game 8 of the regular period of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague is the most exciting and full of derbies game day in the history of the competition! One of the reasons is the Greek battle of giants between Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens and Olympiacos Piraeus on Friday night in the Olympic Sports Center in Athens!
Two clubs with a great tradition in the top competition, with 9 titles between them Panathinaikos have 6 and Olympiacos 3) and with a rivalry that’s been going on for over seven decades across all sports! The reasons to watch this big game are countless! Just one of them, is the matchup of Ioannis Bourousis and Georgios Printezis inside the paint.
Two good personal friends, former teammates in Olympiacos but also in the Greek national team, who are now separated by… the green and red on the court. What feature do they have in common? They are the best options the two gladiators have offensively, in terms of their game with their back against the basket from the post!
Bourousis, at 33 years of age, is one of the league’s leading veterans and one of the most important big men in its history. He’s coming off the best season of his career at the club level with Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz and now he wants to help Panathinaikos return to titles and a Final Four after four years of absence.
A player who can score systematically from the post and function as a creator from the inside out more than competently, he can also play face to face since he even threatens from the three-point line. In Panathinaikos, his role is different compared to last year and together with Xavi Pascual they are looking for the formula in order for him to become a catalyst in his team’s game. It’s a given that over such a long season the team from Athens are going to need Bourousis to dominate in order for them to go far in the competition.
Printezis, at 31 years of age, is in his 14th season in the EuroLeague and it’s no exaggeration to say that, in recent years, he’s the best power forward in Europe, at least in the offensive part. He counts five consecutive seasons with a double-digit number of points, he’s lent a hand in every one of the reds’ accomplishments in the last five years (two titles and finalists in 2015) and he has proven that he can be a clutch player at crucial moments.
He’s gifted in the post, he can score in a multitude of ways with both hands, he’s hard to contain without defensive help, and now he’s reliable from the 6m.75 line, with a rate consistently over 35%. Together with Vassilis Spanoulis they are the pillars of Olympiacos’s offensive function. The “Friday of Death” incudes two European ‘El Clasicos’, one in Barcelona and one in Athens! Christmas has… come early this year for anyone who loves basketball! #GameOn!