After a successful fourth quarter, Olympiacos Piraeus (2-0) remain undefeated in a new Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season.
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
18
|
| Aleksandr Vezenkov | |
| Points | 16 |
| Accuracy | 6-13 |
| Rebounds | 10 |
| Assists | 0 |
Greek club in front of their own fans 74-68 (13-10, 22-26, 19-16, 20-16) beat Real Madrid (1-1), which suffered its first defeat of the season.
Both teams were going neck and neck during the first three quarters, but Olympiacos got the edge at the beginning of the fourth period.
Hassan Martin made a jumper, Sasha Vezenkov and Goannoulis Larentzakis sank a 3-pointer, while the hosts went on an 11-2 run and built 10 points lead (68-58).
Real managed to cut the deficit to 6 points (66-71) with one minute left, and the visitors got themselves another chance.
Thomas Walkup missed both of his free throws, and seconds later, Thomas Heurtel answered with a 3-pointer, which allowed Real to reduce the deficit to 3 points (68-71).
However, Vezenkov made a jumper with 29 seconds to go, increased Olympiacos’ lead to 5, and that was enough to secure a victory.
“In my opinion, the key was our defensive stability after the game, Giorgos Bartzokas said. “We were consistent on defense for 40 minutes, staying with our plan. Everybody gave everything on defense. It is not easy to hold Real Madrid to scoring 68 points. They have a lot of talent, and we needed to make a great effort on defense.”
Vezenkov was the best Olympiacos’ player and finished the game with 16 points (5/6 2PT, 1/7 3PT, 3/4 FT), 10 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 turnover, and 18 PIR.
“It was a demanding game and exhausting game,” Vezenkov admitted. “Real Madrid is a really physical team. We needed to manage their offensive game. On offense, we did not play great, but in the second half, we allowed 32 points, which is incredible in the EuroLeague nowadays.”
Olympiakos Piraeus / Schedule
Olympiakos Piraeus
Real Madrid
FC Barcelona
Zalgiris Kaunas“We did a great job, and we won this game. I hit one out of seven threes, but I try to give everything to the team, in good moments and bad moments, but the most important thing is that we won,” Vezenkov concluded.
Real was led by Walter Tavares, who scored 15 points (6/9 2PT, 3/3 FT) and got 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 blocks, 1 turnover, and 24 PIR.
Nigel Williams-Goss added 16 points (4/6 2PT, 0/3 3PT, 8/9 FT), 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 8 drawn fouls, and 21 PIR.
After the game, Pablo Laso said this game will be a lesson to learn.
“I learned what I already know. That the Euroleague is very difficult, playing away from home is difficult. I think we were solid during 36, 37 minutes, but in 3 or 4 minutes, they scored good baskets, good shots.
We missed a lot of open jumpers. We fought until the end, but we were behind them. We got to learn that every EuroLeague game is like this,” commented Laso.
Olympiacos: Sasha Vezenkov 16 (5/6 2PT, 1/7 3PT, 10 REB), Tyler Dorsey 12, Kostas Papanikolaou 9.
Real: Nigel Williams-Goss 16 (4/6 2PT, 21 PIR), Walter Tavares 15 (6/9 2PT, 24 PIR), Thomas Heurtel 7, Guerschon Yabusele 7.
Highlights
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