A 'European' win at Panathinaikos' home court
Olympiacos bested Panathinaikos 94-89 at the OAKA, for the 8th round of the Euroleague, improving his record to 5-3.
Focused in defense and with Sasha Vezenkov and Evan Fournier leading the offense, Olympiacos made a powerful beginning in the derby with Panathinaikos at the OAKA. The Piraeus team completely controlled the tempo on both ends of the floor (1-7, 3' and 1-11, 4') receiving a bucket after more than 4' of playing time. The 'Greens' reacted running a partial 7-0 streak (13-15, 9'), but a three by Papapanikolaou and 2 free throws by Milutinov put the brakes on the hosts, with the quarter closing at 15-20. In the second quarter, our team found new protagonists in Williams-Goss and Nikola Milutinov and with a 7-0 partial (15-27, 14') the team found double digit lead. The Serbian center was dominating rebounds and the American guard offered a multitude of solutions offense wise, with the difference reaching +13 (25-38, 18'). In the last 2 minutes of the quarter, turnovers and some bad decisions in the offense, allowed Panathinaikos to 'run' a 8-3 partial, marking the half-time score at 33-41.
In the third quarter, our team did not begin as focused in defense. Mistakes and poor reactions allowed the hosts to close into one point (49-50, 26'), while the offensive tempo got off the charts. At that point, Sasha Vezenkov made his presence known and together with Luca Vildoza and Evan Fournier our team got to respond and once again got the lead (54-60, 25' and 61-67, 28'), with the quarter closing at 66-71. In the last quarter, the game was frenetic. Shaquielle McKissic made the score 71-76 at 32' with a 3-pointer, and Evan Fournier opened up the difference to 8p. (71-79, 33'). Panathinaikos scored 5 unanswered points and closed into 3p (76-79, 24'), taking the lead a little later (83-82, 37'), but it was Fournier's time by then. The French guard/forward put our team in the driver's seat with two crucial buckets (85-92, with 55'' remaining). In the final plays of the game, Goss wrote the 87-94 on the board with 8'' before the final buzzer, following a stolen ball by Vezenkov, and the game ended at 89-94 and our team having secured a big European win in the 'eternal rival's' home court.
The quarters: 15-20, 33-41, 66-71, 89-94.
PAO BC
OLYMPIACOS BC
