By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Thomas Walkup scored a season-high 18 points, Sasha Vezenkov added 15 points plus five rebounds and Olympiacos Piraeus swept Real Madrid in the EuroLeague regular season with a 73 – 60 win at home. This result has tied the two powerhouses at 13-7 and at first place in the standings, together with Fenerbahce Beko and Barcelona.
“There’s a ton of jobs to be done and everybody is pitching in,” Walkup said. “[All the players], one through 12, played great tonight and that’s why we won this game.”
The fans that packed Peace and Friendship arena witnessed a highly physical defensive battle in which Olympiacos overpowered Real after the mid of the second quarter to ultimately force them to a season-low scoring performance. The Reds were up 36 – 28 at halftime and took a 52 – 40 advantage near the end of the third period.
Tarik Black emerged as a key factor for Olympiacos during the team’s dominant stretches, with nine rebounds, five points and strong defense on Real’s bigs during the 15:20 he spent on the floor. “I feel pretty beat up! We had to do it tonight,” the American center said. “We just had to fight and I’m glad that we came out with the W. It feels great to get the win.”
After falling behind by double figures, Real managed to cut its deficit 56-48 with 6:44 to play but Olympiacos made a 9 – 2 run and kept being ahead with a safe margin for the rest of the match. While far from effective from the 3-point line (6-26), Giorgos Bartzokas’ players made the most out of their opponent’s mistakes with 21 points off 14 turnovers. Quite the number in such a low-scoring affair.
On the other side, Real was abysmal in its attempts from beyond the arc, finishing with 3-25, including several wide-open looks. Edy Tavares (12 points) and Dzanan Musa (12 points) scored in double figures the Blancos that had obvious problems on offense, also in light of the absences of point guards Sergio Rodriguez and Nigel Williams-Goss.
“We played against one of the biggest teams in the competition, and we knew it would not be easy to win here,” Real coach Chus Mateo admitted. “Probably the difference was that, in the important moments, Olympiacos had more energy. We didn’t play smart offense to make open shots, but Olympiacos played good defense and with more physicality than us. One key point was our terrible percentage with threes, and another was that we lost some important defensive rebounds.”
Building character
Bartzokas enjoyed how his team performed on the defensive end with all players contributing a piece.
“The key to the game was that we allowed only 60 points to such a talented offensive team; not even 20 points in any quarter,” Bartzokas said. “We were really solid defensively. Everybody did his job. We didn’t give anything easy to them and we managed to win the game against a team that is a very strong competitor for the league. We have proved all season that we have character. After big losses, we have bounced back to win. It’s not the first time we’ve proven our mentality. We’re only halfway through the season, it’s just January, but we are happy about our performance today.