The new championship of the Basket League is still moving in a murky landscape, as of the 14 teams that participate in it, two do it through the purchase of the AFM of another club, namely Kolossos Rhodes (collaborates with Holargos) and Lavrio (collaborates with Kymi), while there is also "team A", which is expected to fill the gap that exists with the absence of Olympiacos, for which there is a γίνεται battle to return, so that the sport does not receive a strong blow, both financial and prestige point of view.
All these comedic tragedies take place in a sport that has offered many titles in Greece both nationally and collectively. The beginning was in 1968, when AEK made the big surprise by winning the European Cup Winners' Cup, but in fact its launch in the country happened shortly before the "dawn" of the 80's. In fact, it was shortly before 1980, when the man who was to develop into the ultimate form of Greek basketball and Greek sports stepped on the ground: the Nikos Galis...
The day that changed Greek team sports
It was the night of December 2, 1979, when Nikolaos Georgalis (as his real name was) made his first appearance in front of the Greek public, on his behalf. Mars. That's when "my professional career in my favorite sport began. A career full of joys, emotions and many team and individual distinctions. "But the most important thing is the love and appreciation of the fans for my face even today", the man born in New Jersey, USA, on July 23, 1957 from Rhodesian parents, had said about that "holy" day. and returned to his homeland to make his own revolution.
Although he initially engaged in boxing, like his father, he later realized that his inclination was to basket ball. In 1975 he attended the University of Seaton Hall and from the very first year he stood out, with an average of 27,5 points per game. After graduation he was selected in the drafts by the Boston Celtics. However, an injury and the presence of Larry Byrd in the Boston team would not leave room for him to show his talent. Thus, Galis accepted the offer to go to Greece and continue his career here. This "domino" that initially seemed ugly to him, turned out to be a blessing.
Although the 22-year-old ace had been approached by both Panathinaikos and Olympiakos, he finally chose Aris, after the trip that George Tsiligaridis made to the other side of the Atlantic. With the "god of war" he made his maiden appearance on December 2, 1979, in the match against Hercules, in which his team prevailed 79-78. In his first season in Greece he became the third top scorer, but from the next he climbed to the top, which he continued to conquer for eleven consecutive seasons.
The necessary addition to the ultimate basketball machine
On January 24, 1983, it became one of the most epic games that Greek fans have ever seen. It had Nice as its venue, with the match evolving into a thriller, but also highlighting to the maximum the great talent of the two leaders of the teams that competed: the local Ionian and Aris. The winners were the Macedonians with 114-113, however what went down in history was the "giant fight" between Panagiotis Giannakis and Nikos Gali. "Dragon" loaded the opponent's basket with 73 points, while "Gangster" scored from his side 62.
It was that Saturday that those who dealt with it basket ball they realized that these two should play together. And indeed, in the summer of 1984, Aris proceeded with a transfer that would change the balance in the sport and would make the team of Thessaloniki the protagonist. With the acquisition of Giannakis, Galis now had the opportunity to "take off" the whole of Giannis Ioannidis in greater distinctions.
Although the Mars had won the championship of the 1982-83 season, in the fourth appearance of Gali on Greek courts, in the 1984-85 season he reached his first double. It could not be done differently, as the two best Greek basketball players were playing in the team of Thessaloniki, while they also had at their side Nikos Filippou, a valuable power forward, who had made the trip from Ioannina in 1982. In the same year, the "Yellows" were also distinguished in the Korats Cup, in which they reached the semifinals, in which they faced the mighty Varese.
Everyone on the field and in front of the TVs
In 1986 Aris won the fifth championship in its history and the first without defeat. The difference in capacity with the other teams was huge, with the "yellows" scoring more than 100 points in 16 of the 26 matches they played at that time, with the system changing from next season. THE Nikos Galis became his top scorer for the sixth year in a row, scoring 912 points in 23 games. However, both in the Cup and in Europe the team did not manage to reach the end.
The Greek championship of 1987 was organized for the first time as A1 National category with the system of playoffs being integrated. Aris finished undefeated for the second year in a row, with 18 wins in 18 games, achieving 100 goals in eleven of them. The road to the final could not be stopped, where the team of Gali, Giannaki, Filippou, in which the Slovene with Greek citizenship Slobodan (Lefteris) Subodic was also included, prevailed with 129-81 of Panionios.
In the Champions Cup, Aris will achieve a very big victory against the later winner of the tournament, Tracer Milanou with 98-67, but was defeated by a difference of 34 points in the replay of Italy, with the bitterness "extinguishing" from winning the Greek Cup and double, with 110-70 on the Panhellenic.
After the successful season of Mars followed the huge success with the conquest of the top in Eurobasket in 1987 from the national team of Greece. Galis became the top scorer, with an average of 37 points and MVP of the tournament. With the "gangster" at the top, the representative band, which until then had no distinction at the top level, prevailed over teams with a huge history in the institution such as the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
The backbone of that "blue and white" was Mars (no surprise of course), who had become the favorite team of all Greeks, who were stuck in front of the televisions every time the well-tuned band of Ioannidis played, especially in European matches. "With Galis, Giannakis, Filippou and the other children" was transferred from "Alexandreio" to SEF, but it would always be a yellow slogan.
Typical are the stories from people who lived the huge success of 1987, that in the period before it and in the following years, the streets were deserted to see the proud team of Greek sports, which all Greeks appreciated, while many of them they had now become her followers. The "Alexandreio", which now bears the name of Nikos Galis, was always packed and no pin fell into it.
The "madness" with Mars and the Final-4 series
Now, basketball had become a national sport. Basketballs appeared everywhere in the country, in every school, in every playground. All the children had a ball in their hands, while the mania for Mars was growing. In the 1987-88 season he presented one of the best compositions in its history, with Galis and Giannakis as team leaders, Subotic and Filippou, the Canadian Greg Wilger, Nikos Filippou, Michalis Romanidis and Vassilis Lipiridis. The team will reach for the first time the Final 4 of the Champions Cup, in Ghent. In the semifinals, they faced Tracer Milan, from which they lost 87-82 and finally finished fourth. As for Greece, the double came almost… in the automatic.
The next season, Aris' squad remained the same, with Manthos Katsoulis moving to it from PAOK. The "yellows" will reach the Final-4 of the Champions Cup again, this time in Munich. In the semifinals, they faced the Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv in front of 8.000 Greek fans, but lost 99-86, to be ranked third this time. In the domestic competitions, although he suffered his first defeat after 44 months, on November 5, 1988 by PAOK with 81-78, he will win the championship, with Nikos Galli to be the top scorer for the ninth year in a row, with 642 points. In the Cup, he got revenge on his compatriot, whom he defeated in the final, for another double.
In the 1989-90 season, Giannis Ioannidis' team reached the Final-4 of the Champions Cup for the third year in a row without again being able to qualify for the final of the tournament, in Zaragoza. In the semifinals he found his way to Barcelona, to lose 104-83, to finally be ranked fourth. Despite the fact that he did not manage to win the coveted European title, in Greece he monopolized the trophies, after winning a championship and a Cup for the fourth year in a row.
The gradual decline of the empire
The next season (1990-91) was the first since 1982, in which the "yellow" bench does not have Giannis Ioannidis, who ρισε went down to Piraeus for Olympiakos. THE Mars will be fifth in the group in the Champions Cup and will be out of F4 for the first time, after a series of appearances. In the championship, the team of Thessaloniki won its last title, as it prevailed in an amazing series of PAOK finals. In the organization of the Cup, it was eliminated in the quarterfinals by AEK and did not win the specific trophy for the first time since 1986.
The signs already showed negative for the team that all the Greeks admired and the next season (1991-92) faced serious problems, since four different coaches sat on the team's bench. The big names of the club abstained for several matches, while serious financial problems began to plague the club. The combination of many negative issues led to the loss of the championship for the first time since 1984, where he finished third, while winning the Cup, in the final against AEK. In the Champions Cup he made his worst run, occupying the penultimate position of the group with 3 wins and 11 losses.
The game with the Union, where the title came, was also the last of Nikos Galis with the yellows, as in the summer of 1992 he was acquired by Panathinaikos, who had finished in 8th place, which was the worst performance in its history. This was a big move by the Giannakopoulos family, which began to change the history of basketball in Greece, which now seemed to… gradually move from Thessaloniki to Athens. Something that was sealed with the transfer of Panagiotis Giannakis two years later.
And somewhere there, a wonderful sports story closed its last chapter. However, an even more unexpected legacy had already been entered into basket ball and Greek sports, which supplied "fuel" for the many years that followed.