By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Even when Galatasaray forced Olympiacos to blow a 15-point lead in the second half of last night’s game for the 26th Round of the EuroLeague regular season, few truly thought that the Turkish team would manage to escape “Peace and Friendship” arena with a victory.
Those unbelievers obviously didn’t count on the “Vladimir Micov” factor. And he…. found their lack of faith disturbing.
With his team down 64 – 61 three minutes into the fourth quarter, the Serbian swingman simply erupted, getting one bucket after the other, making all kinds of shots, contested or not, until scoring 13 out of his 18 points within less than six minutes.
“They were my shots and I took them. They fell in. But it wouldn’t matter if we didn’t win. We generally have to win,” he told Eurohoops. “This is a team sport. So I don’t care if i score 20 or 2. I just want to be useful.”
His performance pretty much transcended the meaning of “useful”. He was a game-changer, since he ignited the fuse that led his team through a 12 – 23 fourth quarter surge. Meanwhile, he topped his scoring output with 5 assists and 4 steals while committing no turnover in the 32 minutes he spent on the floor.
“I think Olympiacos relaxed a bit after they went up by 15. They thought that ‘OK, it’s going to be an easy game, they are Galatasaray and they don’t have playoff chances anymore’. On the other side, we played just normal basketball,” he says.
Micov punched the decisive blow on his opponents when he drained the 3-pointer for the 69 – 76, with 74 seconds remaining. It proved to be a dagger, since the Reds were unable to connect to the basket, save from a pair of free throws by Giorgos Printezis.
Of course, Galatasaray began everything in the mid of the third period. By taking advantage of their hosts’ malfunctioning offense, they found the opportunity to score easy baskets in transition, catching the opposing defense off-guard.
“They (Olympiacos) missed some shots and we found fast break baskets. We started fighting more because indeed we have nothing to lose. We started making some crazy shots too I think. When the game was tied we played very smart on defense. We controlled the paint and we boxed out right. Then we shared the ball on offense. All these led to a great win for us,” added Micov.
It’s was definitely an impressive feat for Galatasaray. The Turkish team had lost its mathematical chances to advance in the EuroLeague playoffs week ago, yet it managed to beat Olympiacos, a Top 4 team in the standings, on the road. After a comeback, mind you.
So where Micov and his teammates manage to find the proper motivation to defeat teams like Real Madrid and now Olympiacos when they know that there will be no postseason for them?
“Everybody is playing hard in EuroLeague no matter what. It’s a market, don’t forget that. So everyone wants to play good basketball. Of course, everybody knows that we are out of the playoffs. But we are going to give the other teams some problems, nonetheless. We want to mess up the standings,” he smiles.
“We are fighting and that’s important. We have a great chance to win all four games remaining. Our schedule is good enough for that.”
Considering how Galatasaray has been performing in the last rounds and the victories it has achieved, does he think that they underestimated themselves a bit in the first leg of the regular season?
“It was difficult in the beginning. We were trying to find some chemistry. Then we cut both point guards (Justin Dentmon and Russ Smith). We were somehow trying to find some rhythm. For example I was even playing as a ‘4’. Not my real position at all. We didn’t manage to protect our home court, despite the support by our many and great fans. We lost some games that we expected to win, like the one vs Unics in Kazan. But that’s the past. Now we want to win every remaining match.”
Before the 2014 World Cup, Vladimir Micov had a quarrel with Serbian national team head coach Sasa Djordjevic, which showed him the exit door from the squad. “Sale” had then mentioned that the player will never play again with the “Orlovi”.
When we asked Micov if he thinks that this might change in the future his answer was crystal clear. “No way. It’s a done story for me. I’m a persona non grata. It’s kinda… official.”