“Strangled” Barcelona and Olympiacos took a step for the advantage!

“Clean” with her Barcelona The Olympic!

Through their excellent defense, the “red and white” kept the Catalans down and winning 77-70 in SEF, they went to 19-8 which keeps them very close to home field advantage in the playoffs!

Average image from Piraeus in the first 12 minutes of the match, with the “Blaugrana” even reaching at +11 (11-22). However, from that point on they took complete control.

Top o McKissick with 16 points, with the equally good Lorentzakis to add 14p. and Vezenkov to… lock in the victory in the final minutes, having a total of 13 points.

On the other hand, the Catalans retreated to 18-9by Mirotic to be the top scorer with 19 points and Laprovitola to have 15 points.

The match

Olympiacos started with Fal, Vezenkov, Papanikolaou, Kanan and Walkap. The “red and whites” entered very badly, as they needed more than three minutes for their first basket, while Mirotic and Sanli sent Barcelona to 2-9, in the 4th minute. With some defenses, Piraeus reacted and reduced the score (7-9). Barzoka’s players then missed several easy baskets, with Mirotic and Laprovitola sending the Catalans to +10 (8-18), at 8′. A three-pointer by Papanikolaou ended the Spanish streak, but Veseli eventually made it 11-20 of the first period.

Olympiakos was just as bad offensively in the first three minutes of the second period with Barcelona at +11 (11-22), with a basket by Yokubaitis. From that point on, the “red and whites” tightened up a lot defensively, controlled the rebounds and by being quite aggressive with Black gained an offensive rhythm. Thus, they found baskets in the open field with Peters, Larentzakis and Slukas, as a result of which they made a 12-0 run for the lead (23-22), at 16′. The reaction of the “blaugrana” came from Mirotic, who sent them to +3 (24-27), in the 19th minute. However, in the remaining time, Piraeus took out the defenses and with two shots by Larentzakis and a buzzer beater three-pointer by McKissick, they went to the locker room in front (29-27).

With Walkup’s basket, Olympiacos went to +4 (31-27) at the beginning of the second half, with Laprovitola responding with back-to-back three-pointers to overtake Barcelona (31-33), in the 22nd minute. The “red and whites” answered with McKissick and Vezenkov for the lead, but Kalinic kept the Catalans close (41-39), until the 25th minute. Through the defense and Walkap and Papanikolaou, the Piraeus escaped to +5 (46-41), in the 27th minute. In the final minutes the match became very tough, with Fal sending the hosts to +6 (48-42) with Sanli responding with a three-pointer and McKissick sending Olympiacos to +5 (50-45) at the end of the third period.

Larentzakis’ three-pointer sent the “red and white” to +8 (53-45) at the beginning of the fourth quarter, with Laprovitola and Higgins answering in the same way (53-51). Then, Olympiacos took out defenses and with McKissick and Black went to +8 (59-51), in the 33rd minute. The reaction of the visitors came with the earned fouls and the shots of Mirotic (59-55), with McKissick and Peters answering for +6 (63-57), in the 35th minute. Afterwards, Higgins kept the visitors offensive (66-63), but with their defense and the three-pointers of Larentzakis and Vezenkov, the Piraeus went to +7 (70-63), in the 38th minute. Two shots by Higgins cut it short, with a layup by Vezenkov and a three-pointer by Larentzakis to put Olympiacos up 10 (75-65) with 1:02 to go. The remaining time was procedural with Bartzoka’s team taking the victory with the final 77-70.

The quarters: 11-20, 29-27, 50-45, 77-70

See the match statistics here

Watch the film of the match here