By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid defeated Olympiacos Piraeus on the road 77 – 71 in the first matchup between the two times since they last met in the 2023 EuroLeague championship game.
Dzanan Musa led Real with 23 points, 21 in the second half.
The Bosnian wing also made the layup that put his team up 68 – 75 with two minutes to play, capping a decisive 0 – 6 run for the Blancos.
Thomas Walkup drained a triple to make it 71 – 75 with 58 seconds remaining but that was the last his team scored in the game. Sergio Llull made a pair of free throws to seal Real’s win which puts them at 11 – 1.
Walkup finished with 17 points on 3 – 10 threes while dishing out four assists. Moustapha Fall (10 points) was the only other Olympiacos player in double figures as their team dropped to 6-6.
“Winning sometimes makes you think you are invincible”
The defending champion after getting one more “W” is the team to win, but as coach Chus Matteo explained this is a result of their consistency first and foremost: “We were consistent in rebounding, in defense, we never gave up on our plan. We were able to take the lead at the end, we have to be competitive until the end. Tonight we won, because we did all those things. Losing makes you think bigger, winning sometimes makes you think you’re invincible. Olympiacos is a formidable team, we had to be competitive and consistent throughout the game”.
Mario Hezonja produced 16 points and 10 rebounds for Real and Edy Tavares had 11 points.
As Hezonja said: “We hit some crazy shots but the defense made the difference in the final. We controlled the rebounds in the second half as well because, in the first half, I think they got 11 offensive rebounds and scored 13 points from them. If they do that, they kill you”.
On the other side, Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas admitted that his team missed all the big shots, even from the free throw line: “We missed shots, we missed layups under the basket and then we lost our confidence. Congratulations to Real Madrid for this win and their performance throughout the season. We expected that the match would be this way, that the details would decide the game. Unfortunately in the end everything went against us, we missed five free throws, we missed a couple of layups and in the end, our three-point percentage was very low, under 30%. Madrid has players who protect their basket and create a special situation”.