By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos wanted a big road win and got it over EA7 Emporio Armani Milan with the final score being 84-83, even if the Greeks didn’t score in the last one and a half minutes of the game.
Sasa Vezenkov despite having fever as his coach Giorgos Bartzokas revealed, finished the night with 21 points, 16 in the first half, reaching the milestone of 2500 EuroLeague points, while Evan Fournier scored 18 to go along with seven assists and five steals, and Alec Peters added 14 crucial points.
“We wanted to come out being very aggressive with a defensive mindset and in the first quarter we weren’t doing a great job on it, but as the game went on we got a better rhythm and we were very aggressive in the end”, said Fournier after the final buzzer.
Shavon Shields with 15 points, Nikola Mirotic with 16, and Leandro Bolmaro also with 14, did their best for Milan, which dropped to 9-9, while Olympiacos now has a 12-6 record, tied with Monaco for a spot near the top, depending the result of Paris (11-5) vs Baskonia.
Both teams had to overcome important absences in the paint, as Olympiacos‘ Nikola Milutinovic due to a stomach virus and Milan’s injured big man Josh Nebo missed the game.
A fight until the end
Everyone expected an instant classic in Milan and that was the case with the two teams tied after the first period (19-19), Olympiacos leading by one (41-40) at halftime after the first bucket of Peters in the game at the buzzer.
Olympiacos finally managed to get some distance at the end of the third (64-60) after a three by Evan Fournier (64-58) and with Neno Dimitrijevic trimming the lead.
However, Milan didn’t back down and got the lead back (66-65) after a three by Giampaolo Ricci.
Peters scored for Olympiacos (67-66), Fabien Causeur missed for Milan, and Luca Vildoza with a three (70-66) gave the Greeks again a four-point cushion, which was extended to six (74-68).
Still, with less than three minutes left, Mirotic with a goal foul trimmed it again to three (77-74). Peters answered back with a three (80-74) but Milan didn’t give up.
By tooth and claw, plus a big three by Bolmaro and an assist by the Argentinian who gave Mirotic a layup, Milan made it a one-point game (84-83) with 37 seconds left.
With the game on the line, Vildoza missed and then Bolmaro had the ball and the chance to win. He gave the ball to Niccolo Mannion who tried to give it back, but he turned it over without real pressure less than a second left, and the game was over.