By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Everyone expected a big game in Madrid and that’s what happened but it was unexpectedly one-sided.
Olympiacos demonstrated the quality of their roster and got a big 96-86 win over Real Madrid.
Evan Fournier with a personal EuroLeague high of 28 points led a high-octane offense, Sasha Vezenkov, Shaq McKissic, and Nikola Milutinov added 13 points each, while Luca Vildoza scored 11 points as the Reds had 16/30 threes.
“It’s a great feeling,” Milutinov said. “It’s a big step for us in the season and I’m happy how we got the win. Proud of our perfomance but I still believe we have a lot of space to improve.”
Mario Hezonja had 17 points, Dzanan Musa added 13 for Real Madrid, and youngster Hugo Gonzalez and Walter Tavares had 10 points each on a tense night for Madrid, ending with coach Chus Mateo getting ejected in the closing seconds.
Thanks to this result Olympiacos remains alone on top of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings with a 16-6 record, while Madrid at 12-10 is still among the Top 10 teams which will play in the post-season and the play-ins.
“We had six turnovers in the whole game and made nine in the fourth. Just to make it suspensful for the fans,” joked Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas. His team closed the double-game week with two wins, one at Madria and one at Baskonia on Tuesday (14/1). “I really appreciate the effort of the players. They did great job in these two games in Spain. Two victories in this period of time in the EuroLeague is really important.”
“We have players with personality who try to do the job and win games,” Bartzokas added.
Olympiacos proving their quality
Evan Fournier started the game hot with 10 quick points to give Olympiacos an early 19-12 lead, the Reds got even an eight-point advantage (22-14), however, the hosts reacted timely and closed the first period trailing by three (22-19).
Still, Olympiacos opened up the second quarter with four unanswered points creating some distance (26-19). The guests kept things in check with the second three of Sasha Vezenkov giving them a nine-point lead (45-36) and then with him scoring two free throws creating a 10-point advantage for the first time (47-37).
At the end of the first half, Madrid trimmed the lead to nine (47-38), but Olympiacos opened up the second half pushing the lead to 13 (57-44). The hosts couldn’t react and with Fournier and Vezenkov being hot, Olympiacos led by 19 (73-54) at the end of the third.
The lead of Olympiacos was 22 points (78-56) at the start of the fourth, with five minutes left the score was 83-63 and Real Madrid finally managed to climb the mountain, but couldn’t have the time to complete a comeback.
With one minute left, Olympiacos was leading by 10 (88-78) as the Greeks had relaxed more than permitted, still, it was too little, too late for Madrid.
Photo credit: EuroLeague