By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
On paper, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan is more than dangerous, but also Olympiacos is a title contender. The Greeks proved it at home, getting the 89-68 blowout win.
Sasha Vezenkov with 22 points in 23 minutes can already be considered an early MVP candidate, Shaquielle McKissic also scored 22 points on a more than efficient 7/9 FG, including 3/3 threes and captain Kostas Papanikolaou scored 13.
However, everybody did his part, and missing Nigel Williams-Goss and Nikola Milutinov didn’t bother anyone.
As Olympiacos coach Giorgos Barzokas said about McKissic: “We totally trust him. He might not play in one game and then be on the court for 30 minutes on the next one. He has no ego”.
Former Olympiacos forward Zach LeDay scored 16 points for Milan, and Ousmane Diop added 14, still, Olympiacos kept pretty much everyone else, especially containing Milan’s stars Nikola Mirotic (5 p.) and Shavon Shields (5 p.).
A dominating second half
Despite an early 12-2 lead by Olympiacos with Vezenkov scoring eight points in three minutes, Milan reacted admirably getting a 17-16 advantage and closing the period down by six (23-17).
Olympiacos’ momentum was neutralized, but the hosts continued the push, getting another run and building a 33-24 lead. This time, the Italians didn’t have an answer, and the Greeks finished the half up by 12 (39-27) with McKissic scoring 12 points.
There was no stopping after that for the home team. Olympiacos stayed in the driver’s seat until the end, getting a 17-p0int advantage (63-46) just before the end of the third period and led by 21 (80-59) in the fourth.
Vezenkov and McKissic were simply unstoppable and everything was clicking on both ends of the floor.
Photo credit: EuroLeague