First home Euroleague loss
Olympiacos came back from -20 against Paris, but failed short of winning the game (90-96), for the 14th Euroleague round.
Olympiacos had a nervous start in the game. Proof enough the 0/5 shots during the first two minutes and the 0-4 by the guests, until Nikola Milutinov scored our team's first points (2-4, 3'). The Piraeus team did not have good returns in their defense or a clear head offense wise (5-13, 5'), with the Paris team controlling the tempo. Until Sasha Vezenkov and Evan Fournier took over to run a partial 8-0 for the 'red & whites' that tied the score (13-13, 7'), a direct result of on the ball pressure that led Paris to consecutive turnovers. The game was of high tempo and the lead was constantly changing hands, with the first quarter ending tied at 21-21. In the second quarter, the guests ran a quick 4-0 (21-25, 11'), winning a 4p. lead, with Williams-Goss producing score at a point in the game when our team was playing with an 'emergency' line-up and Kostas Papanikolaou as a center. A three by Luca Vildoza and a bucket by Peters made for a one-point game (31-32, 14'), while a three by Tyler Dorsey tied the score later on to 36-36 (16'). A small 4-0 partial came later for the guests, Shaquielle McKissic and Sasha Vezenkov provided answers (40-43, 18') and Thomas Walkup score a 3-pointer 3'' before the half-time buzzer, making for a 44-49 score.
The third quarter began with Paris running a partial 3-12, the result of bad offensive decisions and inefficiencies of the 'red &white' defensive system (47-62, 23'). Sasha Vezenkov and Shaquielle McKissic tried to keep our team close to the score, while we were losing the battle for the rebounds and could not match up the guests' energy, ending the third quarter with a 60-73 score. In the last ten minutes, our team lacked clear thinking and the Parisiens playing with the same energy levels succeeded in getting far ahead with their lead (60-80, 33'). It was there that Olympiacos managed to show reflexes and with a magical four-minute period, that led Splitter's team to successive turnovers, managed an astonishing comeback, running a 22-0 partial (82-80, 37')! Paris found two threes up next (82-86, 38'), that gave them a 4p. lead following two missed attempts at scoring by our team and turning the game into a derby for the final two minutes. Two free throws by Vezenkov and a finisher by Nigel Williams-Goss followed to tie the score again, this time 86-86, with the guests finding a three 20'' before the clock expired, which made the score 86-89. It was Evan Fournier's turn a little while later to find a huge three with only 6'' on the clock (90-91), but the guests remained poised behind the free-throw lines (90-93) and the game subsequently ending at 90-96.
The quarters: 21-21, 44-49, 60-73, 90-96
