Lost to Zvezda in Belgrade

Olympiacos lost to Crvena Zvezda (87-73) in Belgrade for the 15th round of the Euroleague.

Although Olympiacos made a good start to the game in Belgrade (2-6, 2') remaining focused on their defensive plan, their hasty approach to offense and poor shooting from the perimeter (0/5 threes), allowed Crvena Zvezda to run a partial 9-0 (11-6, 5') and get the lead of the game. Our team had an answer to that. With clearer thinking when attacking, they 'ran' a 9-0 partial of their own (11-15, 8') and got ahead by 4p. The quarter ended at 19-17, with Kostas Papanikolaou playing the center position during the last 60''. With the captain continuing as a center the second quarter began, when poor shooting percentages were still our Achilles' point. Olympiacos could not find score from behind the 3-point line, while at th same time watching the hosts putting the ball in the paint, taking advantage of the lackluster defense of our team. Tyler Dorsey was the one to put a stop to Crvena Zvezda's 8-0 run (29-26, 14'), while Nikola Milutinov and Sasha Vezenkov were offering solutions in the front court (37-36, 19'), with half-time finding our team trailing by 1 (39-38).

The third quarter began extremely badly for our team which remained scoreless for 3.5' watching Zvezda finding rhythm, running an 11-0 partial and getting on top of the game (50-38, 23'). Sasha Vezenkov was the one to break the spell (50-40, 24'), with Nikola Milutinov dropping the margin below 10p. (5-42). Bad shooting from the perimeter and turnovers continued marring our team's offensive game, which although found score from the perimeter with Vildoza, Vezenkov and McKissic (58-51, 27'), was not able to defend effectively, resulting in Zvezda once again getting a wide margin (65-51, 29') and the quarter ending at 67-53). In the last quarter, playing with 3 forwards, Williams-Goss was the main facilitator for Olympiacos when attacking. The American player offered score (69-58, 33') and assist to Peters (72-62, 34') with the difference eventually dropping below 10p., but defense was still lacking intensity. During the last four minutes of the game, our team leveled up its defense and patiently chipped away at the margin (75-68, 37'), making good on six consecutive defensive plays, but the hosts again found solutions, this time with Davidovac (82-69, 39') and got the 87-73 win.

The quarters: 19-17, 39-38, 67-53, 87-73