“Red and white”… an epic at SEF!
Although the match “went awry” in the third period, although James Nunnally with a buzzer beater three-pointer sent it to overtime (85-85), The Olympic take out heart and… soul with their guardian angels Giannouli Larentzakis and Thomas Walkupwinning 98-94 her They were partisans!
The “red and white” were better in the first half, but the… storm in the third period and an… unstoppable Allen Smailajic they even brought them at -14 (53-67), at 28′. Nevertheless, in the fourth quarter his players Giorgos Bartzokas they pulled the trigger and kept the win in their hands, but Nunnally’s buzzer beater 3-pointer sent the game into overtime. There, Olympiacos showed proper composure and celebrated the pink card, for the 2-2.
Leading the “Lari” for the Piraeus with 19 points, but huge and decisive composure from the shooting line, having 9/9 and all of them… burning! Terrible performance from him as well Nikola Milutinov with 16 points and 7 rebounds, while also excellent Thomas Walkup with 11p., but contributing to great defenses.
On the other hand, his team Zeljko Obradovic yielded to 1-3with Zach LeDay and Kevin Pander to stand out with 18p. and 17p. respectively. THE Allen Smailajic added 16p.
The match
Olympiacos started with Fal, Peters, Papanikolaou, Kanan and Walkap. The “red and whites” entered nervously, with Pander and Kaminski leading Partizan to +3 (5-8) in the first three minutes. Then, the Piraeus made a series of defenses and running in the open field with Kanan and Peters went to +6 (16-10), which they maintained (19-13), until 6′. The Serbians responded with offensive rebounds and three-pointers by Nunali and Dozier, bringing the match to a point (21-20), at 8′. However, Bartzoka’s team “came out” with a three-pointer by Larentzakis and with help from Milutinov and Williams-Goss, they closed the first period at +7 (28-21).
The game had the same fast pace at the beginning of the second quarter, with Olympiakos finding solutions from Kanan and Williams-Goss, steadily maintaining its lead and LeDay aggressively keeping Partizan (36-31), until 13′. In the next two minutes, the “red and white” had a mini-breakout and with a 7-0 run, went to +12 (43-31), at 15′. The visitors’ reaction came again from the offensive rebounds with LeDay and Kaminski, reducing (45-39), at 18′. With repeated defenses and Kanan, Bartzoka’s team went to +10 again (49-39), but in the remaining time the Piraeus made mistakes and gave Partizan a 4-0 run for 49-43 in the first half.
Bad start from Olympiakos in the second half, while on the other hand Smilagic came in very furious and with nine of his own points gave Partizan the lead (49-52), at 22′. Peters scored the first basket of the “red and whites”, but the rally did not… come with the Serbians having found a rhythm and going to +8 (51-59), at 25′. Again Peters scored for the Piraeus, but mistakes, nervousness and the bonus of shots that the visitors had early on, shot the difference to +14 (53-67), at 28′. In the last minutes, Barzoka’s players got some reaction and with Milutinov and Peters they were down (59-69) at the end of the third period.
With more energy, Olympiacos entered the fourth quarter and with better percentages than the region, they came close (69-73), at 33′. With two shots by Pander, Partizan “unstuck”, with the “red and white” responding with defenses and reducing the score (73-75), in the 35th minute. Pander aggressively kept the guests at bay, with Larentzakis equalizing (79-79), in the 38th minute. It was followed by a big and difficult three-pointer by Smilagic for the new overtaking of Partizan (79-82), with Papanikolaou’s shots bringing the match to a point (81-82). Pander then missed twice, with Larentzakis going to the line and 2/2 making it 83-82 with 17.7 minutes to go. Pander missed, with Larentzakis going 2/2 at 5.8”, but Nunnally’s buzzer beater 3-pointer made it 85-85 and sent the game into overtime.
The two teams were together (89-89), until halfway through the extra five minutes. With 2/2 shots by Milutinov, Olympiacos went ahead (91-89), with Pander equalizing (91-91), in the 44th minute. That was followed by 1/2 shots by the Serbian center, a Walkup steal on Pander and a Williams-Goss basket to make it 94-91 with 17.2 minutes to go. The final seconds went to shots, with Abramovich going 2/2, Lorentzakis 2/2, Abramovich 1/2 and Walkup 2/2 making the final 98-94.
The quarters: 28-21, 49-43, 59-69, 85-85 ff., 98-94 par.
See here the match statistics
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.
