By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Playing fantastic and highly efficient basketball on both ends, Olympiacos absolutely dominated Baskonia 92 – 62 in Piraeus claiming its 13th victory in the EuroLeague regular season.
Meanwhile, the Spanish team suffered its most devastating defeat this season after the one by CSKA Moscow (112-84) and saw its record getting chipped to 11 – 7.
No less than five players from the winning side scored in double-digit numbers. Vassilis Spanoulis had 12 (along with 7 assists) as many as Giorgos Printezis and Kostas Papanikolaou who also grabbed 7 rebounds plus high-motor defenses. Erick Green added 11 and Vangelis Mantzaris 10.
Adam Hanga was perhaps the only redeeming quality in Baskonia‘s game with 12 points and 7 rebounds. Shane Larkin had 12 but Oly’s defense suffocated his creation (2 assists) and shooting (3/13).
The Reds more or less completed most of the dirty work during first half since they managed to get a 50 – 28 lead at the break. Perhaps an early turning point was Adam Hanga’s substitution for Rodrigue Beaubois. With the Hungarian swingman and his invaluable defense at the bench, Spanoulis found plenty of open gaps in his opponents’ defense to score and create (he send 4 dimes in 4 minutes) at will helping his team make it 20 – 13 rather quickly.
Olympiacos closed the first quarter up 24 – 17 but that was just the start. While Baskonia had the upper hand when it comes to possessions, particularly thanks to offensive rebounding, it couldn’t connect to the basket. On the other end, coach Sfairopoulos’ players thrived on the defensive inconsistencies of the Spaniards to expand the lead greatly.
What is impressive in Olympiacos‘ game is that none of its players had scored in double figures at halftime. A sign of the pluralism in its offense and the desire to share the ball.
Coach Sito Alonso was frustrated enough with his player’s performance at halftime but his team didn’t show any improvement after the break. With exemplary teamwork and keeping more or less the same intensity on defense, the Greek squad made it 57 – 33 and then 72 – 41 a bit before the third quarter’s endings.
It almost goes without saying that the final period was a…. typical procedure seven though Olympiacos‘ rhythm was a bit downtuned. Still, Baskonia couldn’t reduce the deficit much either near the ending of perhaps its worst night in this season’s EuroLeague.