By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
With four players scoring in double figures, Olympiacos Piraeus defeated Gran Canaria 98 – 77 at home to win its third EuroLeague game in a row and improve to 9 – 5.
The Reds imposed their rhythm early in the game, especially after the entrance of Vassilis Spanoulis off the bench. With the team’s captain setting the tone on offense, Oly had a 14 – 7 partial score that transformed the 10 – 9 to 24 – 16. Gran Canaria cut the deficit to 3, 24 – 21 but following a timeout by David Blatt saw Spanoulis and Nigel Williams-Goss dismantling their defense.
Olympiacos made 10 – 0 – run and then took a 20-point lead 47 – 27 with 2:29 remaining for the break that finished 52 – 33 with the Greek squad having scored 32 points in the second period.
The visiting squad tuned up its own offense in the third period but Olympiacos casually preserved a more than safe advantage for the remainder of the game. Gran Canaria didn’t manage to be competitive, having also lost starting playmaker Nikola Radicevic early.
“We have three guards, Hannah is out and with the injury of Radisevic, it was difficult for us. New signings? Not at the moment. Before Evans left, we had signed Vene. We’re not thinking about new players at the moment”, said coach Victor Garcia after the game.
Spanoulis finished with season-high numbers in points (21), assists (season-high-tying 8) and PIR (32). Giorgos Printezis added 16 points and Zach LeDay 12. Williams-Goss had 11 points plus six assists.
Siim-Sander Vene had 15 points for Gran Canaria that dropped to 5 – 9 with this defeat.