By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid finished with 61% from the field (including a season-high 13 3-pointers out of 23 attempts) plus 24 assists en route to beating Olympiacos Piraeus 94 – 78 at home to improve its Euroleague record to 15 – 3.
Olympiacos dropped to 11 – 7 and the fifth spot in the standings. The Reds were unable to keep up with their opponents’ shooting streak and overall sublime offensive outing following the first 15 minutes of the game.
With the score 40 – 38, Real had a 14 – 3 run to get a double-digit lead which established them an advantage that got them going for the remainder of the game. Anthony Randolph took over after the break with 12 out of his 16 points in the second half (he also had eight rebounds) and together with Gustavo Ayon (13 points, seven rebounds, four assists) and Facu Campazzo (13 points, five assists) made sure that the “Blancos” will preserve a more than safe distance despite the efforts of Olympiacos to return. Jeff Taylor contributed 11 points (3/3 triples) plus five dimes.
“Offensively we did a very good job for 40 minutes. We moved the ball well, got inside, penetrated, took the extra pass and our percentages were good,” Real Madrid head coach Pablo Laso said.
Zach LeDay (15 points), Nigel Williams-Goss (13 points, five assists) Vassilis Spanoulis (12 points, 11 assists), George Bogris (career-high 12 points) and Giorgos Printezis (11 points thanks to which he surpassed former teammate Milos Teodosic to climb at the fifth place in the EuroLeague all-time scoring leaders list) were distinguished by Olympiacos that didn’t cut its deficit below six points. following the second period.
In the fourth quarter, the visiting squad collapsed as Real kept its engines rolling to even get a 19-point lead, 91 – 72 with two minutes left to play.
“We had moments in the game where we had a chance to perhaps keep it close and for a good part of the game we did that, but we just didn’t do enough things defensively ultimately to compete with Real when they shoot the ball as well as they did and when they are able to run the ball the way they did,” Olympiacos head coach David Blatt commented.