Of their first look of the 12 months in entrance of their viewers, the “crimson and whites” once more confirmed many ups and downs of their efficiency, on account of which in the long run they have been at risk of basically shedding a sport of their very own, taking the ultimate victory over Zalgiris with a hard-fought 74-68 for the 2nd matchday of the Euroleague.
The match:
Olympiacos, who began the sport with Walkup, Vildosa, Fournier, Vezenkov and Wright of their beginning 5, got here in extraordinarily targeted on their defensive duties, bringing out large power behind the court docket “locking down” Zalgiris' offensive sport. Main the Lithuanians to 4 errors within the first 2 minutes (6 in whole within the quarter), the “crimson and whites”, with Vezenkov and the very energetic Fournier main the way in which, led 8-2 and a bit later with 12-4 within the sixth minute.
With the protection doing nice and the guests lacking one shot after one other (3/17 from the sector within the interval), the Piraeus discovered an offensive rhythm by the short transition, ending the interval with a shocking 11 factors! Peters, Vezenkov and Goss made it 18-6, earlier than Kostas Papanikolaou's buzzer beater three-pointer made it 21-6 within the interval. The one blemish for Barzoka's workforce was the 7 missed defensive rebounds.
With two factors by Goss initially of the second interval, Olympiacos went to +17 (23-6), on the time when Zalgiris discovered… a internet after 5.5 minutes of competitors! With 4 collected factors by Petrusev, the “crimson and white” responded to Lekavicius' three-pointer, with Smilagić “answering” with 5 consecutive factors for 27-15 within the fifteenth minute. Goss continued to be an attacking pole for the house aspect, who, the reality is, had considerably misplaced their focus within the attacking half in comparison with the primary quarter. With the American guard and Dorsey working a 6-0 run, the Piraeus went to +18 (33-15) for the primary time at 16'. Within the final a part of the primary half, nevertheless, some dangerous decisions, but in addition some easy errors by the “crimson and whites”, allowed Andrea Trinkeri's workforce to “gnaw” the distinction and ship the 2 groups to the locker room with the rating at 35-24. On this four-minute interval, solely Vezenkov (2p.) scored and even from the taking pictures line.
The third quarter was additionally in low flight, as each groups performed good and urgent protection, forcing the assaults into errors and missed photographs. Nevertheless, this doesn’t imply that Olympiacos misplaced management of the match, quite the opposite, they managed to keep up the distinction in double-digit values ​​with relative ease for a lot of the interval. With the hungry Evan Fournier scoring 7 factors, the “crimson and whites” led 44-31 within the twenty fourth minute, with Sasha making +14 (45-31) a bit later.
The “wound” of misplaced defensive rebounds, nevertheless, remained (6 within the quarter) for Piraeus, with Zalgiris making the most of it – together with some low-cost errors – “gnawing” the distinction to 7 (48-41) at 28', on the hour the place the hosts had “short-circuited” offensively. The truth that Wright and Petrusev reached 4 fouls, compelled Barzokas to throw Fal into the match, who a bit later made it 50-41, for Fournier to return and with an offensive rebound to make it 52-41 within the twenty ninth minute. . Nevertheless, with the interval winding down, Smilagic made a troublesome shot for a 52-43 quarter.
With a three-pointer by Francisco, the fourth and remaining interval started, with the membership from Kaunas decreasing to six (52-46). A bit later, Luka Vildosa responded with the identical… forex (55-46), with Papanikolaou additionally hitting the mark from 6.75m. for 59-48 at 33'. Ulanovas and Sirvidis lowered once more for Zalgiris (61-53), with Peters and Petrusev growing the distinction once more to +11 and 64-53 at 36'.
Someplace in there, Sirvidis… damage Olympiakos with two back-to-back 3-pointers for 64-59 at 37', with the Lithuanian discovering yet another and a basket by Francisco to make it 67-65 at 1:24 earlier than the top. Someplace there, Vezenkov spoke, with the Bulgarian ahead hitting a two-pointer within the subsequent part (69-65), whereas within the subsequent minute he confirmed large composure from the taking pictures line and with 4 correct photographs, he led Barzoka's workforce to a anxious victory with rating 74-68.
The quarters: 21-6, 35-24, 52-43, 74-68.
Supply: sport-fm.gr
