By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
The last quarter of Olympiacos Piraeus in EuroLeague before the home game against Maccabi Tel Aviv was a disaster: Three points in ten minutes vs. Anadolu Efes, that resulted to their second straight loss in the competition.
What Olympiacos had in store for Maccabi was an absolute, complete contrast. The Reds delivered a phenomenal 35 – 8 first period and their opponents became the latest team to discover how unwelcoming Peace and Friendship arena can be this season by suffering a 90 – 73 defeat.
Five players scored in double figures for Olympiacos. Kostas Sloukas finished with a game-high 18 points, Tyler Dorsey had 17 points, Sasha Vezenkov produced 15 points and six assists, Shaq McKissic added 14 points while Moustapha Fall posted 12 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. The French big man received a big ovation when he was pulled to the bench near the end of the game.
“[The support] feels really good,” Fall said. “I love the fans. They cheer all the time for me. We have great fans and that’s why we don’t want to lose at home. And we were ready to compete today.”
James Nunnally (14 points on 4-17 shots) and Romain Sorkin (10 points, eight boards) were Maccabi’s top scorers in a really off night for the Yellows that were unable to recover from that first quarter and their opponents’ fiery start.
Olympiacos simply couldn’t miss in the beginning of the game, going nine out of nine from the field for a 21 – 6 advantage, five minutes into the match. Dorsey and Vezenkov inflicted most of the damage for the hosts, with the latter finishing the first half with 14 points without missing a shot as his team went to the locker with a 51 – 26 lead.
“I would like to give credit to my players and the fans,” Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas said. “We were able to keep the big difference during the game. And we controlled the pace of the game. I’m very happy about this performance.”
“Our ego was hurt,” he added later. “Maybe I was tough with my players after Efes but I’m glad when the team puts on a reaction and plays with pride.”
Maccabi tried to balance the game a bit but Olympiacos always retained a big margin as more and more of its players entered the offensive equation. A bit before the end of the third period, Bartzokas’ players made it 71 – 43 and the last 10 minutes turned into a standard procedure.
“It was very difficult to turn the game around because the difference was so big,” Maccabi coach Giannis Sfairopoulos said. “We lost the game because of the first quarter. A lack of concentration, a lack of energy created this big difference. And it was not easy to get back into the game.”
Despite the rout and Maccabi’s disappointing performance, Sfairopoulos heard Maccabi fans in Piraeus chanting his name while he was walking towards the press conference room.