Vezenkov leads Olympiakos in the first hurdle to the Euroleague title
A clash between the teams of Olympiakos and Monaco will kick off the Final Four in the Euroleague. The winner of the match will face either Real Madrid or Barcelona in a head-to-head clash for the trophy on Sunday. Olympiakos earned the title of #1 in the competition's regular season after finishing with a 24-10 record that earned them first place in the final standings.
Subsequently, however, Alexander Vezenkov and company met an extremely tough opponent in the face of Fenerbahçe in the semi-finals, with the final outcome of the series decided in a decisive fifth game. The Greek colossus managed to eliminate the "Lanterns" with a 3-2 victory, and so for the second year in a row qualified for the Final Four of the competition.
On the other side, the team of Monaco will play in the "Final Four" for the first time in its history. The Monegasque side finished fourth in the regular season with a record of 21 wins and 13 defeats, facing Maccabi Tel Aviv in the quarter-finals. Like their opponent, the club from the Principality also played a decisive fifth game against the Israelis, winning it 97:86 to rewrite their history and join the final bracket of the tournament.
Thus, Olympiakos and Monaco will face each other for the second time in a row in the playoffs, after last season the two teams created a real spectacle in the quarterfinals. It was won by the Greeks, who triumphed 94:88 in the decisive fifth match at the "Palace of Peace and Friendship" in Piraeus. An interesting fact is that the two teams had never met before the start of last season, but since November 2021 they have met nine times. The balance is in favor of Monaco - 5-4.
Two of Monaco's wins over Olympiakos have come this season. In the fifth round, Sasha Obradovic's team won 81:76 as a guest in Piraeus, thanks to the duo Eli Okobo and Mike James, who combined for 43 of the points of the French team. In the 18th round, the hosts from Monaco achieved their second victory over the "red and whites" - with 64:60 in a match in which Alexander Vezenkov was held to only 4 points.
It is Vezenkov who is one of the big topics of the Final Four, after the Bulgarian was chosen as the most valuable player of the season at a special ceremony yesterday. The Olympiakos leader averaged 17.2 points and 6.8 rebounds, reaching an unattainable 21.2 efficiency rating.
Thus, our national player earned two more awards - for the top scorer of the season and for a member of the Perfect Five in the tournament, and the statuette for MVP simply marks his phenomenal season with the Olympiakos team, which finished in first place in the regular season and subsequently qualified for The Final Four for the second year in a row.
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