Burned the … first match ball in Madrid, but stays one more for him Olympic!
In a very powerful and with lots of fluctuations in the game, the “reds” missed the first opportunity to “clean” the series and secure their presence at the Final Four of Abu Dhabi, losing to the finale with Score 80-72 by the “Merengues” At the “Movistar Arena”, in Game 3 of the Euroleague Playoffs.
The – Without Evan Fournier – Piraeus essentially paid their bad aggressively second half, where they scored just 28 points. However, in the last period, although they were back with 10 points (72-62), they managed to reduce the basket, but not to complete the overthrow, losing the details in the end.
Top for Giorgos Bardzokas’ team, who will search for the coveted break on Game 4 next Thursday (01/05, 22:00). 4 assists and Seben Lee with 11 points and 4 rebounds.
For the “Queen”, who stayed alive in a row, the Tavares (15p, 5p), Hezon (14p) and Muse (14p, 5p).
The match:
THE Olympic He started the game with Goku, Vildosa, Papanikolaou, Vesenkov and Fal in his original five, he entered quite lazy and loose on the back of the parquet, which resulted in Real Marditis Get the upper hand in the score from the beginning and find easy baskets. With Djanan muse To make a great start and score 7 fast points, the Merengues led 10-5 in the three minutes. The “reds” then turned on the attack and with their back-to-back three-pointers Goku and Vildosa reduced the difference to 3 for 16-13 and a little later For 18-15. Hezonia’s three -pointers and muse however sent the difference again to +7 (24-17) at 8 ‘with Milutinov and Vezenkov responding with a quick 4-0 series and Feliz shaping 28-21 of the first period. Space in which the Spaniards had 4/4 three -pointers and just one mistakethe result of the moderate image of the Piraeus in defense.
Completely different was the scenery in the second quarteras if there was another match! And this is because, the Piraeus … they finally decided to play defense! By taking off her well -known aggressive and pressing face at the back of the parquet, his team George Bardzoka he greatly limited the opponent’s aggressive trumps. With Yul’s basket, Real went to +9 (30-21) at the start of the period, with the Trinity of Peters, Lee and Goku running a 10-0 score for the first “red-white” lead and 31-30 at 14 ‘! A small 6-0-series Spanish outburst for 36-31, was not enough to change the image of the match, with the guests continuing at the same high standards and with a new big series, 13-0 this time thanks to Goku (15th in half) and Wright, to preceded by +8 (36-44)before Hezonia sends the two groups to the locker room With the score at 38-44! It was noteworthy that Olympiacos kept Real at just 10 points with 4/14 shots, forcing her to 7 errors, At a time when in the first quarter he had only one!
Saben Lee with the slam ??#Motorolamagicmoment I @Moto pic.twitter.com/9opcq3h0ka
– Turkish Airlines Euroleague (@euroleague) April 29, 2025
The beginning of her third period He looked quite like that of the former, since Olympiacos came in a bit hesitant and quite static in his offensive game. Two Piraeus mistakes led to Real’s equal baskets in surprise, with the Hezonia and Musa bringing the match equal to 46-46 at 23 ‘. Immediately afterwards, the Sasha Vezenkov With five personal points he gave a great aggressive “breath” to Piraeus (47-51) a minute later, with Tavares and Abald re-equalizing For 51-51 at 25 ‘. Seimpen Lee and Mario Hezonia exchanged a shot behind 6.75m, with Vezenkov scoring in the dead Olympic attack time For 54-56 one minute later. Since then, the two teams have been extremely wrong, so there was no point for the next three minutes. In fact, only Real was the ones associated with the opponent’s basket, with the tavares and a bell to write 58-56 of the period, At a time when the “reds” have shown in the last 4 minutes to have many problems in the offensive.
Moses Wright wow ??#Flighttime I @Turkishairlines pic.twitter.com/0lrp3biv39
– Turkish Airlines Euroleague (@euroleague) April 29, 2025
Like that, the Fourth and last quarter evolved into a thriller for strong nerves, with the Olympiacos to make enough and gathering mistakes At the beginning of the period and Real to make the most of them and with Garuba baskets and Albades going for the first time at +7 and 67-60 in 33 ‘. George Bardzokas’ timeout did not change the image of the match, as the “red -white” attack faced enormous difficulties, both in creation and traffic, as well as execution, at the same time where the “queen” with Abalde’s three -pointer and a two -pointer of Abalde at +10 and 72-62 at 35 ‘. Somewhere there the Olympiacos superstar came forward with Sasha Vezenkov To take the situation on him and with a goal and his own three-point goal, to reduce to 5 for 72-68 at 37 ‘! Shortly afterwards, the guests reduced the basket (72-70) with Lee’s shots. In the last minute, Real was the ones who found the solutions and had the clear mind, after proved to be cool from the line of shots and in combination with the Piraeus failure, he came to victory with the final 80-72.
The quarters: 28-21, 38-44, 58-56, 80-72.
See the statistics of the race here.
Source: Sport Fm
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