Violent footwork for Olympiakos in SEF with “stamp” Vezenkov

A tough fight in SEF for Olympiakos!

In their first appearance this year in front of their audience, the “red and white” again showed a lot of ups and downs in their performance, as a result of which in the end they were in danger of essentially losing a game of their own, taking in the final the victory over Zalgiris by force 74-68 for the 2nd matchday of the Euroleague.

His team Giorgos Bartzokas had an excellent first quarter (21-6), even maintaining double-digit values ​​for the longest period of the match. However, in the end the many mistakes (19 for 18 assists), but also the… irritating number of 18 offensive rebounds by the Lithuaniansn, they allowed Andrea Trinkeri’s team to reduce even the basket in the 39th minute (67-65), before taking action Sasha Vezenkov and with 6 points in the last minute to clear the case of victory.

Somehow and with… a lot of stress, Piraeus got the first pink card of this year’s Euroleague, with the Bulgarian forward finishing the match with 17 points (4/5 shooting, 11/13b.) and 11 reboundswith Evan Fournier to follow in performance with 15 points and 5 rebounds. Of the positives, beyond the victory that was also the point, his return Mustafa Fal after 138 days, with the French center stepping on the floor for 6:28′ and counting 2 points and 1 assist.

The match:

THE Olympicwho started the game with a starting five of Walkup, Vildosa, Fournier, Vezenkov and Wright, came into the game extremely focused on his defensive duties, bringing tremendous energy to the back of the court and “locking down” Zalgiris’ offensive game. Leading the Lithuanians to 4 errors in the first 2 minutes (6 in total in the quarter), the “red and whites”, with Vezenkov and the very active Fournier leading the way, led 8-2 and a little later with 12-4 in the 6th minute.

?? La soiree begins bien pour Evan Fournier!@Olympiacos_BC x @EuroLeague #SKWEEKLive pic.twitter.com/zoNlIBfVk6

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With the defense doing great and the visitors missing one shot after another (3/17 from the field in the period), the Piraeus found an offensive rhythm through the quick transition, ending the period with a surprising 11 points! Peters, Vezenkov and Goss made it 18-6, before Kostas Papanikolaou’s buzzer beater three-pointer made it 21-6 in the period. The only blemish for Barzoka’s team was the 7 missed defensive rebounds.

Kostas Papanikolaou buries a transition triple to end the first quarter??????@Olympiacos_BC #MotorolaMagicMoments I @Moto pic.twitter.com/BgCW3TLLiA

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With a two-pointer by Goss at the start second periodOlympiacos went to +17 (23-6), at the time when Zalgiris found… a net after 5.5 minutes of competition! With his four collected points Petrushevthe “red and whites” responded to Lekavicius’ three-pointer, with Smilagić “responding” with five straight points for 27-15 at 15′. Goss continued to be an attacking pole for the home side, who, the truth is, had somewhat lost their concentration in the attacking part compared to the first quarter. With the American guard and Dorsey going on a 6-0 run, the Piraeus went for the first time at +18 (33-15) at 16′. In the latter part of the first half, however, some bad choices, but also some effortless mistakes of the “red and whites”, they allowed Andrea Trinkeri’s team to “gnaw” the difference and send the two teams to the locker room with the score at 35-24. In this four-minute period, only Vezenkov (2p.) scored and even from the shooting line.

In low… flights it also moved third quarteras both teams played good and pressing defenseforcing attacks into mistakes and missed shots. However, this does not mean that Olympiacos lost control of the match, on the contrary, they managed to maintain relative comfort the difference in double digits during most of the period. With the appetizer Evan Fournier to achieve 7 points, the “red and white” led with 44-31 at 24′, with Sasha making it +14 (45-31) shortly after.

The “wound” of lost defensive rebounds, however, remained (6 in the quarter) for Piraeus, with Zalgiris taking advantage of it – along with some cheap mistakes – “gnawing” the difference to 7 (48-41) at 28′, on the hour where the hosts had “short-circuited” offensively. The fact that Wright and Petrusev reached 4 fouls, forced Barzokas to throw Fal into the match, who a little later made it 50-41, for Fournier to come and with an offensive rebound to make it 52-41 in the 29th minute. . However, as the period ended, Smilagic made a difficult shot for the quarter 52-43.

???>? Welcome back Moustapha Fall! ??????@Olympiacos_BC x @EuroLeague #SKWEEKLive pic.twitter.com/cbgHGbcwM6

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With a three-pointer by Francisco, the fourth and final periodwith the club from Kaunas reducing to 6 (52-46). A little later, Mr Luka Vildosa he answered with the same… currency (55-46), with the Papanikolaou that he also hits behind 6.75m. for 59-48 at 33′. Ulanovas and Sirvidis again reduced for Zalgiris (61-53), with Peters and Petrusev increasing the difference again to +11 and 64-53 at 36′.

Somewhere in there, Sirvidis… hurt Olympiakos with two consecutive 3-pointers for 64-59 in the 37th minute, with the Lithuanian finding one even along with Francisco’s they reduce to a basket and 67-65 at 1:24′ before the end. Somewhere there he spoke Vezenkovwith the Bulgarian forward hitting a two-pointer in the next phase (69-65), while in the next minute he showed tremendous composure from the shooting line and with 4 accurate shots, he led Bartzoka’s team to a thrilling 74-68 victory.

The ten minutes: 21-6, 35-24, 52-43, 74-68.

See here the statistics of the match.