By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Vassilis Spanoulis scored a season-high 20 points in 22 minutes and Nigel Williams-Goss added a EuroLeague career-high 23 points plus six rebounds and four assists, leading Olympiacos to an 88 – 83 win over previously undefeated Real Madrid.
This win improved Olympiacos to 5 – 4 while Real dropped to 1- 8 after suffering its first loss this EuroLeague season.
The Reds were up by 10, 80 – 70, following a 3-point bucket by Spanoulis with 2:45 minutes remaining but Real, that traveled to Piraeus minus Sergio Llull and Gustavo Ayon, fought back to make it a game in crunch time.
Facu Campazzo and Anthony Randolph combined for a quick 0 – 5 run and then the Argentinian guard scored 3/3 from the line for the 82 – 78 with one minute left on the clock. The “Blancos” pulled off some defenses and Gabriel Deck won a foul that provided him with the chance to put his team to a one-possession distance with seconds remaining. Yet the rookie went off target in both of his attempts.
Real once again took the ball following a turnover by Olympiacos but Campazzo committed a 3-second violation. On the other end, Williams-Goss handed his team a four-point advantage, 84 – 80 and then, with ten seconds left this time, added another pair. The American guard retained his cool from the free throw line to keep Olympiacos safe and sound until the final buzzer.
“Last week we lost to a very good Fenerbahce team at home and I am happy about the way my players approached both games with Fener and with Madrid, two great teams“, said coach David Blatt after the game. “We are Olympiacos so our expectations are always high”.
Apart from Spanoulis and Williams-Goss, Janis Strelnieks also had a key offensive contribution for Olympiacos with 15 points, all of them in the second half, and most of them at moments when his team looked stale in its scoring attempts.
Jaycee Carroll finished with 16 points while Campazzo had 14 plus a career-high 13 assists. These two were the main responsible figures for Real coming back after falling behind 52 – 41 at halftime to eventually even tie the score 63 – 63 at the end of the third quarter. Spanoulis and Williams-Goss had been the reasons the Greek team had gone to the locker room with such an advantage since they scored 16 apiece in the game’s first twenty minutes.