By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos Piraeus set a new club record for 3-pointers with 19 in a 102 – 74 blowout win over Bayern Munich at home. The Reds registered their 20th victory this season in the competition to remain in first place in the standings.
Bayern dropped to 11-17 and the 15th spot in the standings, its playoff chances all but eliminated.
Five players scored in double figures for Olympiacos. Sasha Vezenkov led the charge with 18 points on 4-6 triples, Shaq McKissic scored 15, Giannoulis Larentzakis dropped 14 points and Thomas Walkup finished with 13 points and five assists.
Kostas Sloukas had 10 points plus five dimes of his own, all of them by halftime when Olympiacos led 55-35. Bayern, which was missing Vladimir Lucic and Nick Weiler-Babb, was unable to keep up with the hosts’ stellar shooting (10-15 3-pointers)
After trailing 59 – 35, Bayern reacted and took on the offensive with 20 points over less than six minutes for the 66 – 55.
Thanks to three triples at the beginning of the fourth period, Olympiacos increased the margin beyond 20 once more. This time, Bayern couldn’t manage to match its opponents’ prowess or halt them and fell behind even by 30 down the stretch.
As Thomas Walkup said: “We were a little worried about the big win against Barcelona on Tuesday, but we came out here and played a really, really good game. We shot the ball super well. I don’t think that was the true reflection of the score. I think Bayern played better than that. We made a lot of threes and it kind of came together. So we’re happy.”
Isaac Bonga was Bayern’s top performer thanks to a season-high 16 points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Ognjen Jaramaz and Niels Giffey scored 11 apiece.
Trinchieri tipping his hat to Olympiacos and coach Bartzokas
With Olympiacos not being just the top team in the standings, but producing spectacular basketball, FC Bayern Munich head coach Andrea Trinchieri didn’t hesitate to praise his opponents: “First off I would like to sincerely congratulate Georgios [Bartzokas] and Olympiacos for this game, for the quality of their basketball on both ends of the court”.
On the other hand, the Italian coach talk also about the injury woes of his team which had only 10 players available for the game and missed among others Corey Walden, Vladimir Lucic, Nick Weiler-Babb, Elias Harris, and Augustine Rubit who is out for the rest of the season: “Tonight the task for my players was too big without four players from the starting five. We were trying to find a way to play and we didn’t make it. We had one good quarter – the third quarter – and the rest were really difficult to compete with. On one side, there is the high quality of a team that plays with great chemistry and the ball is moving in an amazing way. They made 19 three-pointers. You have to make 19 threes. Even if you are open it’s not easy to make so many threes. On the other end, we didn’t understand how we had to play. The second and third quarters were better but definitely not enough in order to compete against the best team in the EuroLeague at the moment.”
Olympiacos Piraeus head coach Georgios Bartzokas himself added: “We were lucky in the last game. We didn’t need to overuse some players. The main players, Vezenkov and Walkup, did not have to play more than 25 minutes. So we were fresh today. It was a game that, offensively, we were really good. We shot the ball very well. But I have to say that our third quarter defensively was really bad. We allowed 30 points. But anyway, we appreciate the win. Congratulations to the players and fans, who made another great atmosphere here today.”