Olympiacos “escaped” with the… advantage from OAKA!

The match

Panathinaikos started with Gudaitis, Williams, Bacon, Walters and Lee, while on the other hand Olympiacos started with Fal, Vezenkov, Papanikolaou, Kanan and Walkap. With Gudaitis hungry, also loading Fal with two quick fouls, the “greens” led 6-3 in the first three minutes. Then, the “red and white” reacted with defenses and three-pointers from Kanan and Vezenkov, making individual scores 2-11, for +6 (8-14), in the 5th minute. The answer of the “clover” came with the shots of Lee, who brought the match to a point (18-19), in the 9th minute. With Vezenkov’s shots, the guests temporarily went to +3 (18-21), with Bohorides making it 21-21 in the first period.

The two “eternal” were tied in the score in the first two minutes of the second period (25-25). Then, Olympiacos tightened up defensively, secured the rebounds and with Boloboi, McKissick and Peters went on a 10-0 run, for +10 (25-35), until 15′. Then, Mantzoukas and Lee kept the “green” aggressive, with the Piraeus team continuing their efficiency from the perimeter, sending the difference to +12 (33-45), at 18′. In the remaining time, the “clover” found a 5-0 run from Walters, with one free throw by McKissick sending the visitors to the locker room with +8 (38-46).

With 3/3 shots by Kanan, Olympiacos escaped again to +11 (38-49) at the beginning of the second half, with Mandzouka and Bacon answering with three-pointers (44-49), until 22′. The “red and white” reacted again with the defense and running in the open field that gave them individual scores of 2-7, they went to +10 (46-56), in the 24th minute. For their part, the “greens” responded with Gudaitis and Lee and thus reduced the score to -4 (52-56), with Fal’s basket and foul temporarily “detaching” the Piraeus team (52-59) at 27′. However, from that point on, the defense of the home team tightened, Barzokas’ players had bad and misguided choices in the attack and thanks to Grigonis, Panathinaikos got closer to the point (58-59), at the end of the third period.

With repeated good defenses and forwards Larentzakis and Peters, Olympiacos entered the fourth period with a 7-0 run, for +8 (58-66). After that, the derby went very strong with the pace being low and the “eternals” finding baskets mainly from offensive rebounds. However, the “red and white” maintained their safety distance (63-71), until the 36th minute. From that point on, the “clover” became more pressing, forcing Piraeus to make mistakes and with Bacon and Grigonis gnawed away at the difference (71-75), in the 38th minute. It was followed by a mistake by Fall and offensive rebounds by the home team, with Bacon’s three-pointer bringing the derby to within a point (74-75) with 23.8 minutes to go. Immediately foul by the “greens” on McKissick, who made 1/2 from the line (74-76), at 21”. Williams missed on the last attack and with 0.7” left, Olympiacos took the win.

The quarters: 21-21, 38-46, 58-59, 74-76

See here the match statistics

Watch the film of the match here