Legendary upset in Belgrade by the steely Olympiakos!

Only Olympiacos can write such scenarios: From despair to triumph, with the heart of a champion!

A few minutes before the finale, everything seemed lost for the “red and whites” against the Maccabi Tel Aviv. His team Giorgos Bartzokas found themselves at -13 in the 35th minute, flirting with a second straight defeat and the disappointment of the EuroLeague’s “devil’s week”. And yet, with soul, defense and unyielding personalities, Olympiacos turned the match around and celebrated a sensational double in Belgrade with score 95-94!

Even tonight there were many mistakes, bad returns in defense, the absence of an “ace” and the peripheral defense, despite everything, the big personalities of Piraeus and its “gunpowder-smoking” stars they declared “present” at the end and they sent Olympiakos to 3-2!

With Milutinov, Dorsey, Ward and Vezenkov going forward, Olympiacos ran partial score 18-4 in the last five minutes and with winning basket by the Bulgarian forward at 17” before the finalescaped from ‘Aleksandar Nikolic Hall’ with a great double that changes his psychology.

Leading the winners was Vezenkov with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 31 points in the rating system, with Milutinov (23 points, 5 points, 30 PIR), Dorsey (18 points, 5 points, 5 assists), Hall (8 points, 6 points) and Ward (6 points, 8 assists) providing valuable assists. For Maccabi, which fell to 1-4, Dowtin stood out with 24 points and 6/7 three-pointers.

The match:

With the classic five of Nilikina, Dorsey, Ward, Vezenkov and Milutinov, the game started Olympicwho entered the match very sluggishly and lazily. In the first four minutes of the match, the “red and white” made three mistakes, missed free three-pointers, while Nilikina with two collected fouls went to the bench. At the same time, the defense got under the basesince Maccabi was “hitting” in the transition the bad returns, but also the static defense of Piraeus, as a result to lead 14-6.

The first “red and white” three-pointer by hand Vezenkov allowed Giorgos Bartzokas’ team to find a competitive rhythm at both ends of the floor, before Dorsey get his “weapon” and with two shots of his own behind 6.75m. to reduce at 16-15 in the 7th minute. The mistakes continued, however, with the Israelis finding easy baskets after three minutes of… rain and maintaining their lead until the finale, when Papanikolaou with ellipsis at the end formed 24-22 of the period.

With a beautiful feint and drive by Vezenkov it started second quarter for the first draw in the match. Dowtin and Hall then traded baskets, with Olympiakos… returns to mistakes and to concede easy points, as a result of which Maccabi escaped with +7 for 35-28 in the 15th minute. With him Li to hit a big 3-pointer and give an amazing assist for Milutinov’s go-ahead basket, the Greek team tied at 35-35 two minutes later.

Oded Katas’ time-out, however, woke up Maccabi, with the “people’s team” returning to the pitch with a quick 8-0 run by Walker and Brissett, with Milutinov answering with four points of his own to make it 43-39 at the 19th minute. Leaf’s goal-foul, but also one terribly difficult buzzer beater two-pointer by Walker in front of the hands of Dorsey and Papanikolaou, they sent the two teams to the locker room with the score at 48-40. The Piraeus hurt by their 10 mistakes, which led Maccabi to +11 (19-8) from opponent errors, but also to 10-0 in points from surprise.

LONNIE with a halftime buzzer beater! ??

What a shot by @lonniewalker_4 to extend the @MaccabiTLVBC lead! #MotorolaMagicMoment @Moto | @MaccabiTLVBC pic.twitter.com/CRyF1smlyI

— EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) October 16, 2025

The scene at the beginning was quite different third quarterwith Olympiakos entering the floor focused and “erasing” the difference quickly. With him Vezenkov scoring 7 points and Ward adding three more and making good saves, the Greek champions drew at 50-50 in the 22nd minute. Again, however, the “red and white” couldn’t overtake in the score, since o Sorkin with four personal points he made it 54-50 a minute later.

Coach Barzoka’s team had to wait until the 27th minute to take the lead, when Nilikina with five personal points he did in 58-59. Since then, the match took on a wild beauty with an aggressive bra de fer from both teams. Clark and Santos on the one hand and Vezenkov and Hall on the other kept raising the score (65-65), before the Israelis with a three-pointer by Santos and a nail by Walker after a cheap mistake by Olympiakos, form 70-65 of the period.

DONTA HALL STRIKES AGAIN! ??

Huge dunk over Lonnie to cut the lead to 2! ??#MotorolaMagicMoment @Moto | @Olympiacos_BC pic.twitter.com/iRdWUppvko

— EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) October 16, 2025

With his three very difficult and marked three-pointers Dowtin and two more shots started the fourth and final period, with Maccabi breaking away for the first time in the match with +12 for 81-69 in the 33rd minute. Nilikina cut down with a layup to follow another 3-pointer by the typical home team with DiBartolomeo for 84-71. A difference that lasted until the 35th minute for 90-77, before a mythical and “red and white” twist followed!

With him Milutinov to score 10 points in a row and Ward making a huge three-pointer, Olympiacos reduced it to 93-90 at 39′! Soon after, Vezenkov’s three-pointer made it 94-93, before Brissett missed for Maccabi and Sasha with a floater wrote the final 95-94 from Dorsey’s magic assist! In the final, Walker missed a dead three on defense.

Kritik anda sahneye c?kan Sasha Vezenkov ??@Olympiacos_BC geriden geldi, windogi ald?!#EveryGameMatters pic.twitter.com/0sMSzwa9Ve

— EuroLeague Turkiye (@EuroLeagueTUR) October 16, 2025

The quarters: 24-22, 48-40, 70-65, 94-95.

See here the statistics of the match.