Written on 25 January 2024. Posted in Games.

Fell fighting

An 'injured' Olympiacos fought with all he had for the win in Madrid but did not pull through. The team lost to the top-ranking Real Madrid, 85-90, for the 23rd round of the Euroleague, in a game that due to the absence of Moustapha Fall, Nikola Milutinov and Nigel Williams-Goss, forced the team to use only untested line-ups.

The 'red & whites' were only able to be competitive for only four minutes (9-7 at 4'). Taking advantage of excellent percentages (3/4 free throws, 6/8 2-pointers, 5/6 3-pointers), its overwhelming superiority in rebounding (13-2), and our team's difficulty in scoring, Real set the tempo and closed the first quarter at +17 (30-13). Olympiacos put more pressure on defense, moved the ball better, but - despite the effort put out by Luke Sikma as a '5' - wasn't able to reverse the momentum. The Spanish team, that continued shooting extremely well from the perimeter, sent the difference to +24 (52-38). The 52-40 score of the first half was signed by Luke Sikma.

The hosts increased the margin to 26p. (60-34 at 24'), but, Bartzokas' players did not give up. They put effective pressure in the back court, found solutions with Peters and Papanikolaou and at the beginning of the 4th quarter with Long and closed in to 7p. (71-64 at 33'). Real responded with a partial 9-2 and got to lead with +14 (80-66), but following an offensive recital by captain Kostas Papanikolaou, our team closed in to 4p. (82-78). However, the hosts took advantage of our team's bad decisions at that point and with a 4-0 by Musa, they got to sigh with relief (86-78, 1:21'' before the final buzzer). With 2 points by Peters and a 3-pointer by Papanikolaou, Olympiacos once again got in the game (86-83), 40'' before the end.

The last seconds...

Campazzo made the score 88-83, Long scored for the 88-85, and Campazzo wrote the final 90-85 with 2/2 free throws (9.5'' before the buzzer), since McKissic missed both of his free throws (8.4'') dissipating all hope for a win.

* Giannoulis Larentzakis did not play in the second half due to lower back problems.

The quarters: 30-13, 52-30, 68-55, 90-85.

REAL Μ.