Fall stepped up to turn the Reds into 'hungry dogs'

Olympiacos Piraeus put together an impressive second-half comeback to beat AS Monaco 76-62 in the first semifinal of the 2023 Final Four. Driving behind its defense, which held Monaco to just 2 third-quarter points, the Reds were clicking on offense as well.

It was an impressive change from the first half to the second.

"Coach told us at halftime to relax because we are not playing our basketball," Fall said after the big semifinal win. We were nervous. We were missing easy layups, we were missing free throws, they were getting offensive rebounds. It was a total mess in the first half. But we came back really aggressive, like hungry dogs, and we did the job."

One of the facilitators of the comeback was big man Moustapha Fall who just had a single point in the first half, but then finished the game with 12 points, and 4 assists to help Olympiacos move into Sunday's championship game.

"Nothing was going well so I had to play as aggressive as possible. As a group, we had to step up, and I also had to step up," Fall added.

Olympiacos scored 29 first-half points, shooting 4-for-12 on both two-pointers and threes, but then scored 27 in the third quarter alone. Fall had 5 of those, but then continued his inside dominance in the fourth quarter, as well. And that was of massive importance to keep Olympiacos ahead, as Monaco was trying to mount a comeback of its own.

When Monaco got within 60-53 with 6 minutes to go, the big man had a pair of dunks that pushed the margin back into double digits and the Reds never looked back.