The two powerhouses come head-to-head once again at WiZink Center on Thursday night.
Real Madrid vs. Olympiacos rematch: ‘Everybody was sure he was going to take the shot’
Članak
3 Min čitanja
Last season’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Championship Game is one that will forever be remembered for Sergio Llull’s game-winning shot. For Real Madrid, it was another example of the EuroLeague’s winningest team snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. For Olympiacos Piraeus, it was a punch in the gut that came after a season of playing near-perfect basketball.
Ahead of Real hosting Olympiacos in Round 23, some of the key protagonists from that epic final have reflected on how winning or losing affected them.
“Olympiacos finished the season playing an amazing game and playing like a machine. It was very difficult to beat them,” says Real boss Chus Mateo.
“The toughness of the team and the mentality… our group felt together and we feel very proud about that,” added Sergio Rodriguez, who led Real in PIR (23) in last year’s championship game with 15 points, 4 rebounds, 9 assists and 1 steal.
The shot
Olympiacos led 78-72 with 2:13 minutes to go after Isaiah Canaan’s jumper from the left baseline, and it looked like the Reds were on their way towards securing their fourth EuroLeague crown. But, Rodriguez scored 5 straight points to make it a 1-point ballgame, 78-77, with 46 seconds remaining. Real called a timeout with 12 seconds on the clock and what Llull did next was historic.
“We called a timeout and I asked Sergi: ‘Do you want the ball?’” Coach Mateo recalls. “And he told me: ‘Yes.’ Everybody was sure that he was going to take the shot.”
“He’s been in that situation many times,” Rodriguez says of Llull. “We knew that we got that opportunity at that moment. I was 100% confident on the outcome of the shot.”
The other side of the coin
With elation comes devastation. Olympiacos still had a chance to flip the script as there were 3 seconds remaining, but Kostas Sloukas’s off-balanced jumper hit the rim and bounced into the arms of Nigel Williams-Goss, who returned to the Reds this summer after spending two years at Real.
“It’s really difficult to overcome the feeling of losing a game like that, missing the title, but that’s basketball,” notes Olympiacos head coach Georgios Bartzokas. “Sometimes, you realize that’s life.
“We are talking about an effort of 10 months, working every day, motivating ourselves, playing together until the final, and we lost the last game. It was a heartbreaking feeling.”
It was the same feeling for Olympiacos team captain Kostas Papanikolaou, although he remembered how the Reds also won on Georgios Printezis’s game-winning shot back in the 2012 championship game against CSKA Moscow.
“Of course, [it was a] huge disappointment,” comments Papanikolaou. “That’s the first thing that comes to your mind. To be so close, almost one hand on the trophy, it’s painful. But this is the beauty of the sport. That’s how it is. That’s why we all love this sport.
“Let’s not forget that we – as Olympiacos – have been on the other side of history, too, in 2012, because I was part of that team. I’ve been on that side of history, too.”
Games between Real and Olympiacos always guarantee entertainment, but in recent seasons, even more so.