A comfortable win over Baskonia
Olympiacos beat Baskonia 92 - 69 at home for the 11th round of the Euroleague, expanding his winning streak to six.
With Evan Fournier being the main protagonist of the hosts' offensive game, Olympiacos made a powerful start to the game vs Baskonia (10-4, 3'), but saw the Basques running a partial 3-13, taking advantage of the lackluster defensive game by the 'red & whites' which allowed Howard to find rhythm (13-17, 6'). Our team however had an answer. With a partial 9-0 of their own (24-19, 8'), once again got the lead and the first quarter ended with a 30-24 score.
In the second quarter, the Piraeus team showed to be very willing to run an effective offense, at the same time upping the level of intensity in the back court and hence dominated the tempo of the game. Three points by Williams-Goss and another three by Kostas Papanikolaou upped the score margin to +11 (36-25, 13'). Our team was dominating both ends of the floor with Nikola Milutinov being now in the spotlight. Five unanswered points by the captain made the score 43-27 at 15', while our team was also offering a great show with exciting offensive collaborations, closing the first half with two back-to-back threes by Vildoza and Larentzakis (56-38).
In the third quarter, the 'red & whites' maintained their focus on their defense and shared scoring, without been threatened by Baskonia at any point in the game. The difference remained at a level that could keep anxiety at bay (67-49, 27'), with the quarter closing at +20 with four consecutive unanswered points by Alec Peters (73-53). In the last quarter, concentration on defense did not allow room for Baskonia to attempt a comeback, while the hosts got help from all their roster in terms of scoring. The margin remained wide up until the end of the game (92-69) and the sixth consecutive win in the competition.
The quarters: 30-24, 56-38, 73-53, 92-69
