Baskonia – Olympiakos 62-72: Steel reaction and end of the negative streak

With his prestige hurt by the four consecutive defeats, with the teams chasing him urging him more and more and since the Fernando Buesa Arena is not among his… favorite stadiums, Olympiakos had to lose on Friday (4 /2) to get back on its feet. And he rose. He defeated Baskonia 72-62 in Game 25 of EuroLeague, took a deep breath and continued with better psychology in the regular season aiming to reach the octave.

At 13-9, the disciplined, focused and determined Red-Whites (9-1 home and 4-8 away) featured Costas Papanikolaou, Sasha Vezenkov, Tyler Dorsey and Thomas Wokap to stand out, lead and clean the wash, the time the Basques fell to 7-16 (5-7 inside and 2-9 outside) and in the lower tiers of the standings. Fear in the final for Vezenkov, who literally smacked his hand in Olympiacos’ recent attack despite not appearing to have sustained a serious injury. The game took place in front of 6773 fans.

The MVP

Costas Papanikolaou and Tyler Dorsey share the MVP title. The first kept Olympiakos upright with his three-pointer (4/4) and the second carried him to victory. Especially the point where he scored five points in a row for 60-65 made the difference. Pap finished the match with 12 points, the expatriate guard with 17 from 3/4 two points, 3/6 three points and 2/2 shots. He made three more errors but had the same number of rebounds and assists.

The weak link

Wade Baldwin made a bad showing against his former team. He scored only five points in 29 minutes (1/5 two points, 1/3 three points), he never found cracks in Olympiakos’ defense, he left some executions from middle distance that at other times he might take and complete However, he expected more from his ace Neven Spahia and didn’t take The Seven Final Passes to save his overall picture.

The stats that stood out

With three assists, Olympiakos ended the opening twenty minutes in which they had only 23 shots against the 31 of Baskonia, who had 10 assists for six errors. In the final of the evening, the Red and Whites’ 13 steals were a great performance, their best of the season, while the 11/21 three-pointers and only three penalties played an important role in the game’s outcome. The hosts had key players to stay in the shallows, performing 12 fewer shots and losing normally. Surprise points (5-10) and mistakes by the opponent (9-21) also spoke clearly for the winners.

The race

Olympiakos went into the game with… thousand, who had 4/4 two points, 1/1 three points, 2/2 shots, two steals and two assists for a 13-5 in the fourth minute. Dorsey found a rhythm early on for +11 (18-7) and in the final of the season Piraeus was still in the lead but Basconia had gnawed the difference, 3/5 three points ahead of Kuruts, Peters, Giedraitis and cutting the form of their opponents , who got stuck in the last two passes.

The Basques made it 14-2 to get ahead (21-20 in 14 minutes), with the Red-Whites sticking to their plan, continuing big attacks, keeping the pace low and pointing to Baskonia who they judge become the game. McKissick fired in the 18th minute to make it 25:29 and at half time Piraeus retained the lead without shining, without excitement. But they were financial and they had gotten the game exactly where they wanted it to be.

Vezenkov and Wokap made big baskets early in the second half (31:39), but the American continued with two misplaced threes and one error, after which Baskonia responded with a small 4:0. And as the Basques pushed and pushed, Papanikolaou scored a three-pointer from the right corner to make it 40-47 in 27′, followed up with a second late in the third period to make it 44-50 and kept his team ahead. with the difference in the two professions.

Basconia’s eruption took place at the beginning of the fourth period. Gentraitis and Baldwin scored three threes to make it 9-0 (53-50 in 32′), Papanikolaou scoring again from the periphery and then assisting Vezenkov to make it 55-60 in 34′. Dorsey set five series (three points and shots) for +5 (60-65), he also set the three-point win for 60-70 at 1:29, with the Basques compromising with the result and the superiority of their opponents .

THE REFEREES: Lotermoser, Boltauser, Rossi

THE TEN MINUTES: 13-18, 29-32, 44-50, 62-72

BASCONIA (Spain): Lamar Peters, Raieste 2, Baldwin 5 (1/5 two points, 1/3 three points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists), Granger 5 (1), Fontecchio 4 (2/7 two points), Inoc 9 (3/4 two points, 0/3 three points, 3/4 shots), Costello 4 (6 rebounds), Alec Peters 18 (6/7 two points, 2/2 three points, 7 rebounds), Gentraitis 12 (4 /6 three points), Kurut’s 3 (1)

OLYMPIC (Bartzokas): Wokup 12 (2/3 two points, 1/3 three points, 5/6 shots, 2 rebounds, 4 steals), Dorsey 17 (3/4 two points, 3/6 three points, 2/2 shots , 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 errors), Fal 6 (3/5 two points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks), Sloukas 8 (0/5 two points, 2/3 three points, 2/2 shots, 2 rebounds, 3 assists), Martin, Vezenkov 15 (5/7 two points, 1/4 three points, 2/2 shots, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals), Printezis, Papanikolaou 12 (4/4 three points) , Jean-Charles, McKissick 2

Statistics of the Basconia group: 16/34 two points, 9/23 three points, 3/4 shots, 29 rebounds (24 defensive – 5 offensive), 21 assists, 7 steals, 1 block, 16 errors

Olympiacos team statistics: 13/29 two points, 11/21 three points, 13/16 shots, 27 rebounds (25 defensive – 2 offensive), 13 assists, 13 steals, 3 blocks, 13 errors

The next games of the two teams: In the 26th game, Baskonia will play Armani in Milan (2/10 at 9:30 p.m.), while Olympiakos host Anantolou Efes on the same day (2/10 at 9:00 p.m.).