The “caught” Olympiacos fell heroically in Madrid

He fell… fighting in Madrid o Olympic!

Although the Real even escaped at +24 (60-36)the missing “red and white” fought, but in the end they experienced defeat 90-85. Thus, the Piraeus retreated to 12-11while on the other hand the “queen” went up to 20-3.

Career night from the… touching Kostas Papanikolaouwho had 25 points (a new individual record in the Euroleague), with 6/8 three-pointers, also playing for the absent Mustafa Fal, Nikola Milutinov and Nigel Williams-Gosswhile he did not compete at all in the second part o Giannoulis Larentzakis, with a problem in the waist. At 12 p.m. he stopped Alec Peterswhile a double-double was done by Luke Sikma with 10p. and 10 rebounds.

Among the Spaniards, the leader was Janan Musa with 20 points and was followed by Mario Hezonia with 16 p. He came close to the double-double o Facundo Campacho with 12 p. and 9 assists.

The match

Olympiacos started with Petrusev, Peters, Brazdeikis, Kanan and Walkap. In the first two minutes, the “red and whites” fought Real’s energy and had a small lead with Walkup and Petrusev (4-7). However, afterwards, the Piraeus had one bad choice after another, constantly giving baskets in the open court to the “queen”, who with Campazzo-Poirier went on a 10-0 run, for +7 (14-7), at 5′. Peters halted that run temporarily, but then the home team started a flurry from outside the 6.75m, resulting in a +19 (30-11) lead in the 9′. On the final drive, McKissick made it 30-13 in the first period.

With more concentration and tougher defense, Olympiacos entered the first minutes of the second period, with McKissick and Sikma reducing (35-22), until the 14th minute. But, immediately Real found their… hand again from the perimeter and with Musa and Rudy, escaped to +21 (47-26), in the 18th minute. In the final two minutes, Sikma aggressively kept the Piraeus team woefully short on shots from beyond 6.75m. (2/15 three-pointers), with the “queen” going to the locker room with +22 (52-30).

With Musa unstoppable and especially outside of 6.75m. Real went to +24 (60-36), at the beginning of the second half. Olympiakos’ reaction came with three-pointers from Peters and Papanikolaou, with the difference falling below 20 points (62-44), at 25′. Poirier temporarily “unstuck” the hosts, with the Piraeus answering with Papanikolaou and Kanan, reducing even more (64-51), in the 27th minute. The last minutes were with baskets one yours and… one mine, with this difference being maintained until the end of the third period (68-55).

Olympiacos started the fourth period with repeated good defenses and a 6-0 run led by Mitrou-Long, reducing the difference to single digits (68-61) in the 32nd minute. However, very cheap mistakes followed from the players of Barzokas who gave easy baskets in the open field to Real, which, with Hezonia as the protagonist, went to +14 (80-66), in the 35th minute. The “red and white” reacted and with McKissick and Papanikolaou they reduced even more (82-78), in the 37th minute. The “queen” responded with defenses and a 4-0 run by Moussa (86-78). The leader answered again and brought the match to -3 (86-83), with Campacho giving the home team a breather (88-83), 24 minutes before the end. Mitrou-Long cut it, with the Argentine making 2/2 from the line, for 90-85 at 9.5”, where that was the final score.

The quarters: 30-13, 52-30, 68-55, 90-85

See the match statistics here

Watch the film of the match here