Zalgiris – Olympiakos 73-84: Playoff rehearsal and the scent of a quartet in Kaunas

The away game against Zalgiris, postponed for the 19th EuroLeague game, did not come at a good time for Olympiacos. The Lithuanians are in a good phase of form, the derby with Panathinaikos follows in just under 48 hours, so the Red-Whites’ action in the Zalgirio Arena was indeed difficult, demanding. It became the longest part of the game, but in the end the best team won.

Piraeus prevailed 84-73, rising to 16-8 and getting even closer to home field advantage in the playoffs of the tournament, knowing that everything is in their hands now. With three wins in their last four games, they will mathematically solidify their presence in the quartet and not care about the results of the teams behind them, mainly Anantolou Efes.

Great night for the reborn Hassan Martin, great night for the leader Costas Papanikolaou, Tyler Dorsey didn’t shoot from the periphery but he had good intervals in the second half which helped Olympiakos. Zalgiris’ image is very good for another night, with Lucas Lekavitsios – Josh Nibo standing out and causing serious problems for their opponents, but in the final they see their team flexing against a superior team.

The MVP

Great play by Hassan Martin, who scored (13 points from 5/8 two points and 3/6 shots), played defense, hit the offensive rebound and missed second chances that Olympiacos capitalized on. The American is going through a period of good form, he perfectly complements Mustafa Fal and has given another good choice to his coach, who sees him as lighter, stronger and more determined than the player we saw in the first months of the period. We may wrong Costas Papanikolaou who was great but Martin was more than effective during the time he played.

The weak link

Bad night for Artouras Milaknis (3 points, 0/4 shots, 3/3 shots in 25 minutes), a player traditionally hurting Greek sides. He wasn’t the only one left behind by Zalgiris, but surely Yuri Zdovch expected more from him, from his reliable hand and experience.

The stats that stood out

Olympiakos ended the first half on an assist, Zalgiris capped it off with double rebounds (10-5) and had 13 assists at halftime against the nine red-whites who were 62% on two points but weak on peripheral shot. 3/12, 25%). The situation got worse in the third ten minutes when Piraeus 0/5 had three points, but by the end of the evening both teams had exceeded 60% in two points, with Olympiakos hiding their mistake behind 6:75 and leaving Kaunas with a few errors, for the criticality of the game.

The race

Olympakos went into the match with his classic five (Wokap, Dorsey, Papanikolaou, Vezenkov, Fal). He took three points from his main small forward for 2-6, but he made slight mistakes, giving Zalgiris an opportunity to equalize at 8-8 and take a three-point lead thanks to 3/3 shots from Milaknis in the sixth minute walk. Papanikolaou and Vezenkov (with torfouls) didn’t let the hosts escape towards the end of the season, although 20-15 in 10 minutes seemed poor for Piraeus, who lacked creativity and needed more focus on defensive rebounds.

Martin and Vezenkov came in well in the second ten minutes to reduce the basket (22-20 in 12′), the American did an important job covering Lovers before Larentzakis fouled a goal to make it 25-26 in the game with Sloukas , McKissick and Brindisi scored , Martin around him. Lekavitsius and his collaboration with Nibos bothered Bartzokas a lot, but I saw his players ramp up the intensity and strength of Zalgiris, Brindezi-Martin to write 31-34 and a small 0-6 to set the game on fire , which found the two teams at 39-39 in 20′.

Olympiakos started the second half with a foul from Fal to make it 39-42, Dorsey made two big baskets from middle distance to make it 48-50 in 25′ but Nimbo and the failure from the periphery were still the two main problems Piraeus faced didn’t lose the match even if they couldn’t find a way to control it.

Dorsey with layup and Papanikolaou with three opened impressively in the fourth third, Martin defended close to the basket with blocks and rebounds. An offensive rebound led to a three from Dorsey for 59-66 in 32′, Martin continued the great work with his finishes and offensive rebounds, one of which Sloukas made the three for 64-72 in 34′ before Vezenkov after one American center’s pass to make it 69-79 and cleared the game three minutes before the final.

THE REFEREES: Jimenez, Jovcic, Rossi

THE TEN MINUTES: 20-15, 39-39, 59-58, 73-84

The next games of the two teams: In the 30th game, Zalgiris hosts Anantolou Efes (17/3 at 20:00 CEST) while Olympiakos plays Panathinaikos at SEF (17/3 at 21:00 CEST).