Kaunas… is coming Legend!
Olympiakos he entered with a knife in his teeth and with the SEF reminiscent of a “stove”, he won 84-72 the Fenerbahcein the fifth match of the playoffs, for the second consecutive qualification to the Final Four of the Euroleague and 12th in its history!
The Piraeus were superior for most of the match, while it was a pivotal point the individual score 15-2 in the last five minutes of the first half, as -2 translated into +11 (44-33), with which they went to the locker room.
Another leading and excellent performance from Kostas Sloukas with 22 points and 6 assists, sensational Kostas Papanikolaou with 14 p. and 11 rebounds, while equally good Sasha Vezenkov with 17 p.
From his team Dimitris Itoudisstood out Marko Gudurich with 26 points, making 8/12 three-pointers. Average appearance by Tyler Dorsey with 9 points, but 0/5 three-pointers, while O Nick Calathes with 4 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists.
The match
Olympiacos started with Fal, Vezenkov, Papanikolaou, Kanan and Walkap. The “red and white” entered with energy on both sides of the floor, going +5 (9-4) in the first three minutes. Afterwards, Piraeus became very careless offensively, making some mistakes, with Fener taking advantage of this with Dorsey and Gooduric and equalizing (13-13), in the 6th minute. From that point on, Barzoka’s team gained control of the match. On the one hand, because he ensured the defensive rebounds and on the other hand, because Papanikolaou and Walkup felt good and aggressive. Thus, the hosts made individual scores 7-2, closing at +5 (20-15) in the first period.
With the entry of Gooduric and Edwards, Fener entered the second quarter better, reducing the basket (22-20). Olympiakos’ answer came with baskets in the open court by McKissick and Fal, for +6 (29-23), in the 13th minute. The continuation was not similar, as cheap mistakes, but also Guduric, who was still “hot”, put the visitors ahead (29-31), at 15′. However, the Piraeus reacted again. With the terrible defenses from Papanikolaou-McKissick, the American providing solutions in the attack as well, and with Sluka and Black also finding their rhythm, Barzoka’s team ran a 15-0 run, for +13 (44-31) , at 29.7” before the end. The rest of the time, nothing changed dramatically except for two Dorsey shots that made it 44-33 in the first half.
At the beginning of the second half, Olympiacos had options in the attack, with Fener maintaining the difference at the same levels thanks to Motley’s offensive rebounds (48-39). Vezenkov reacted for the “red and whites”, who again went to +13 (52-39), in the 23rd minute. A two-minute period followed, with the match becoming tough with many fouls and interruptions, with the Piraeus, however, maintaining their difference at the same level (57-45), until the 26th minute. Then, Barzoka’s players “stuck” and Motley with a 4-0 reduced (57-49), until the 28th minute. The answer of Olympiakos came from Slukas, who with his own 5-0 sent the difference back to +13 (62-49) and with a personal basket and a foul the “red and white” closed with this difference (65-52 ) in the third period.
The first four minutes of the fourth period passed at a slow tempo, with Sluka and Vezenkov finding baskets at key points and thus Olympiacos went up +15 (71-56), at 34′. Guduric tried to keep Fener almost… single-handedly with his three-pointers, with the “red and whites” even going to +17 (78-61), with the Serb reacting and the Turks reducing (78-66) in 38′. However, in the final minutes Barzokas players were in control and in the end took the victory with the final 84-72.
The quarters: 20-15, 44-33, 65-52, 84-72
See the match statistics here
Watch the film of the match here
Source: Sport Fm
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
