By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In theory, Olympiacos had more motivation but already eliminated from playoffs Crvena Zvezda got a win that kept the Greeks from sealing the top spot in the final standings.
Zvezda prevailed 87-79 behind 20 points, eight assists, and five steals by Facundo Campazzo.
The Argentinian point guard put on a one-man show, saving the pride of his team.
As coach Dusko Ivanovic said: “Except the first 10 minutes, when we really didn’t play how we had to play, for 30 minutes we played with big energy, with good defense. A great game. We play every game to win.”
John Holland registered a season-high 17 points while Luca Vildoza scored 14 points.
“That’s life – that’s the way the game goes, that’s the way that life goes”, said Holland. “One day your girl leaves you, and the next day you come out and hit shots. So the trick is to keep the same mindset no matter what’s going on, and just to stay locked in”.
For the visiting side which remains on top of the standings, having the tiebreaker over Real Madrid and Barcelona, Sasha Vezenkov scored 16 points and Thomas Walkup had 15.
Kostas Sloukas added 13 points and tried to turn things around in the second half, but ultimately couldn’t.
Olympiacos started the game with a 30-19 lead, however, Zvezda closed the first period trailing by four (30-26) and then the Greeks had just one bucket advantage at halftime (47-45).
The second half started with Zvezda making a 9-0 run and leading by seven (54-47), while Olympiacos had eight turnovers in the third period which ended with the hosts leading by five (65-59).
A big three by Campazzo made the score 83-74 with four minutes left and there was no coming back for Olympiacos after that.
Zvezda had more energy
Olympiacos coach Georgios Bartzokas admitted that Olympiacos looked less fresh than Crvena Zvezda: “We didn’t match up the physicality of their play. The third quarter was a disaster for us; we turned the ball over nine times if I remember well. Not controlling the pace in this kind of game, you have problems. We have the last game on our home court, and we have to beat Baskonia. But we need to play better. Way better.”
Facundo Campazzo agreed: “I think we were aggressive on defense. That made us play very smart on offense. We didn’t worry about who was going to shoot, we shared the ball and were smart. And on defense, we played as a team, very smart, focused, a planned game in the second half. I think that was the difference. We’ve got to think about what is next. We can finish ninth in the EuroLeague so we’ve got to fight for that.”