By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Offenses were rolling in the first half, but Olympiacos locked in on the other end in the second half rolling to the away win, 105-88, over Khimki Moscow Region Tuesday evening.
Kostas Sloukas dialed in five threes during the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 17 contest held at the Mytishchi Arena for a season-high 25 points. Sasha Vezenkov also recorded his 2020-21 personal-best wrapping up his solid showing with 19 points. Both Georgios Bartzokas players were one point short of their career-highs in Europe’s premier club continental competition.
“On offense, it seemed we started the game well and had a great day. On defense, we improved in the second half and we leave here with a very important victory for us,” noted Sloukas after the game, “I think we have the quality to score these shots, but most important was the creativity we showed. But we have to think more about our defense.”
“It was a very tough game for us because it was coming after three losses. We knew how important it was to win the game. We knew that Khimki has big talent even though their record and their losses do not show that,” added Vezenkov, “We played good defense in the second half, even though they scored 88 points, and we played one great game on offense, and we are happy that we won.”
The Reds were generally extremely hot from beyond the arc making 16/29 threes for the night. However, the defense holding the hosts to 38 points in the second half after allowing 50 points through the first 20 minutes is largely credited for snapping the three-game losing streak and improving their EuroLeague record to 8-8. Next up, FC Bayern Munich at home in the first week of 2021.
“Everybody knows how much I respect the whole organization, the fans and the players here,” said former Khimki boss Bartzokas, “I think that our defensive effort in the third quarter was key for us and also Charles Jenkins’ defense against Alexey Shved.”
Khimki fell behind after being outscored, 27-14, in the third quarter. Alexey Shved sank 22 points but failed to effectively carry the offense after the break. Jordan Mickey and Egor Vialtsev produced 17 points apiece.
“We had problems with the rotation, only three guys could play the forward positions,” pointed out Rimas Kurtinaitis, “We had serious problems with our size on the court when some of our players got into foul trouble.” Out of the 11 players available, Mickey, Devin Booker, and Sergey Monia all fouled out.
His side went down to 2-15 suffering its ninth straight loss and its seventh in eight home affairs so far. The Russian outlet missing Janis Timma, Jonas Jerebko, and Greg Monroe is 1-10 in the last 11 games in all competitions. A VTB United League road game versus Lokomotiv Kuban follows Sunday prior to a trip to Lithuania to face Zalgiris Kaunas on Friday.