By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona was the superior team in most of Game 2 of the EuroLeague playoffs vs. Olympiacos Piraeus and especially down the stretch to take a 77 – 69 win and tie the quarterfinals 1-1. The series now moves to Greece where Olympiacos will host the next two matches.
Jabari Parker led Barca with a season-high 24 points and five rebounds in his best performance with the Blaugrana jersey. He drained 4 out of 7 triples, including key buckets that made it 66 – 61 and 74 – 64 with 3:54 remaining.
“We needed to keep the energy and intensity,” Parker said. “We knew the game was about runs. We kept our composure and we stayed aggressive. This is why I got off the couch for. This why I decided to play here in Spain, because of the intensity, and I’m thankful for that. But the job here is not done and we got to keep it going.”
Olympiacos didn’t manage to come back from that margin. The Reds had recovered from an early 27 – 14 deficit to slowly build momentum and go up 54 – 55 in the third period. With the score 63 – 61 though, Parker sounded the charge for Barca and the hosts made a 13 – 3 run in a decisive stretch in the fourth period to assume and stay in control.
Alec Peters was perhaps the only ray of sunshine for Olympiacos with 20 points and five rebounds. Nigel Williams-Goss had 10 points and Shaq McKissic added 10 points as well but their team overall had a poor offensive night especially from afar. It’s worth noting that starting guards Thomas Walkup (seven points, 0 – 7 threes, seven assists) and Isaiah Canaan (two points) combined for 0 -11 triples.
“Barca play better and they deserved to win. It’s 1-1,” Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas said. “In the crucial moments of the game when we came back and led for the first time, we thought that we could’ve had better decisions and some better selections to put them under pressure,” he later added. “But they scored immediately and got back in the game.”
Barca made the most out of Olympiacos’ 19 turnovers, scoring 25 points off of them. Willy Hernangomez had 11 points and Jan Vesely finished with 10 points plus seven rebounds. Alex Abrines hit two big triples in the last eight minutes, finishing with 9 points.
“Olympiacos is a really tough team,” Barca coach Roger Grimau said. “We have to defend at high level in everything. I’m really happy for the way we played.”