He “cleaned up” the fighting Peristeri bwin with abbreviated procedures and now turns to the finals of the Stoiximan Basket League Olympic!
After an impressive first half, where the “red and white” took the lead up to +23 at the end of the first period, with Peristeri reducing to 5 (44-49) at halftimeGiorgos Bartzokas’ team got serious in the second half and with a terrible defense, prevailed 84-71 for the 2-0 in the semi-final series of the playoffs and the qualification to the finals!
Leading for the winners was Alec Peters with 20 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals, with Nikola Milutinov to finish the match with an impressive double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds. The leader of Piraeus also filled his statistics, Kostas Papanikolaou, with 11 points, 9 assists, 3 rebounds and 1 steal.
For his team Vasilis Spanoulis, who officially completed this year’s dream season in the league and Europe – reached the Final 4 of the BCL – stood out once again Ragland with 21 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal.
The match:
TPeristeri bwin started with Ragland, Mitrou-Long, Kaselakis, Dagubic and Thompson in his five, with Olympic to start with the “classic” five, Walkup, Kanaan, Papanikolaou, Peters and Milutinov. The “red and white” came in completely focused and with me foot on the acceleratorrunning one impressive 14-0 streak with Papanikolaou and Milutinov as protagonists in the first 2.5 minutes of the match.
The first field goal for the Dove came at 4:10′ with a three-pointer by Williams (4-16), but the Piraeus team answered with the same coin and thanks to 3-pointers by Walkup and Kanaan made it 22-7 in the 5th minute! Through their amazing defense, Giorgos Bartzokas’ team found many easy baskets in the transition and surprise (12 in the 1st quarter), and with them Milutinov and Peters to score in bursts (14/18 from the field in the quarter), Olympiacos closed the first period with impressive +22 for 35-13!
And while the momentum was showing… Piraeus, his team Vasilis Spanoulisnot only did he not “bend” from this big difference, but he made it counterattack in the second quarter! With Olympiakos “short circuit” offensively and defensively, but also for there to be tension and nervousness on and off the pitch for the “red and whites”, the home team succeeded and “nibbled” the difference in 13 (30-43) at 15′, even having polyphony in the attack. It is indicative that the first on-field goal for Olympiacos came almost 4.30 minutes after the start of the period.
Despite… the sporadic efforts of Nikola Milutinov and the rest of Olympiakos’ front line, the hosts continued to control the match, seeking through their good and pressing defense to find points in the open field. With the duo of Thompson and Ragland to score and cooperate in an exemplary manner, Peristeri succeeded and sent the two teams to the locker room with only 5 points difference for 49-44 in favor of Olympiakos!
The scene was different in third periodwhere the Olympic he came out much more serious and focused on the “Andreas Papandreou” floor, with the short half-time break working beneficially for Giorgos Bartzokas’ players, who “cleared” their minds. With their excellent and pressing defense as an ally, the visitors succeeded and once again increased the difference to double figures, thanks to the good start of the Papanikolaou and Peters (46-58) at 23′. In fact, a short time later, Walkup’s three-pointer and Caanan’s two-pointer widened the gap at +16 for 48-64 at 25‘, before Poulianitis and Peters “traded” three-pointers for 51-67 a minute later.
With Olympiakos taking advantage of Peristeri’s team fouls, he found easy points from the line with Peters and Kanaan in the final two minutes of the period, with the Peristeri however closing in on two Ragland drives in the final minute for -13 and 60-73 of the quarter.
Having a safe margin in his favor, o Olympiacos dropped the tempo of the match, something that is also reflected by the 11-11 individual score of the fourth and final period. The “red and white” were virtually never in danger at any point of the quarter, thus comfortably reaching the pink match sheet and qualifying for the finals of the Stoiximan Basket League playoffs with the final 84-71.
The quarters: 13-35, 44-49, 60-73, 71-84.
See the statistics of the match:
Source: Sport Fm
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