By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
With four seconds remaining in regulation and the score 72 – 72, Giorgos Printezis lost the chance to win the game for Olympiacos going 0/2 from the line.
He took it personally and in overtime, he scored 7 in a row out of his team-high 21 points, leading his squad to a 92 – 83 victory, the Reds’ ninth in eleven games of the EuroLeague season.
The star: Printezis of course. Apart from his scoring output (that tied his season-high), he contributed 7 rebounds for 24 PIR, also throwing the dunk that made it 89 – 80. The icing on the cake.
His team wanted this win badly, also because it was the EuroLeague season debut of Vassilis Spanoulis. The Reds’ captain finished with 7 points and 4 assists.
The young gun: Despite a monumental performance and a career-high 33 points, along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists, by Luka Doncic, plus the offensive excellence of Jaycee Carroll (24 points), the “Blancos” couldn’t finish what they started by coming back from a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter and ultimately forcing the extra period.
It was Carroll that hit the game-tying 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining, completing the turnaround of his team in “Peace And Friendship Arena. But the hosts, and Printezis in particular, were way too determined to stop in the extra period.
The Reds had managed to build the above double-digit lead thanks to the immense efforts of Jamel McLean (12 points) in the third period who took the torch from his frontline mate Nikola Milutinov (12 points).
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