Back to winning in a packed home arena
Olympiacos bested Efes 92-89 for the 24th Euroleague day and upped his winning record to 17-7.
Focused on defense and efficiency in moving the ball, Olympiacos made a good start to the game. Our team 'ran' a quick 7-0 partial (11-5, 3') and got ahead early in the game. Relying on their aggressive defense with led in offense by Evan Fournier, the 'red & whites' completely controlled the tempo (20-11, 7') and finished the quarter leading by 15p. (29-14). In the second quarter, Nikola Milutinov and Alec Peters led the scoring efforts (36-21, 14') when at the same time concentration on defense remained at high levels, at least during the first five minutes. The guests reacted taking advantage of the turnovers and consecutive bad choice of the 'red & whites' offense (41-37, 18'), however, a steal by Shaquielle McKissic and a 3-pointer by Kostas Papanikolaou gave an 8p. lead to the hosts (45-37), that finally went to the break with a +7 lead (47-40).
A triple by Sasha Vezenkov interrupted the 4-0 ran by Efes in the beginning of the second half (50-44, 22'), while two back-to-back twos and one by Williams-Goss and Evan Fournier that followed once again gave our team two-digit lead (56-46, 24'). Olympiacos continued controlling the game up until 64-55 (27'), when Efes ran a 6-0 partial (64-59, 28') trying to legitimately get back into the fight for the win. The 'red & whites' response though was immediate, with Nigel Williams-Goss changing the tempo and our team closing the quarter with a partial 10-2 score (74-61). In the last quarter, the margin went up to +18 thanks to threes by Sasha Vezenkov (81-63, 32'), with Olympiacos continuing managing the lead and the Bulgarian forward continuing taking center stage in the team's offense (85-69, 37'). The guests exploited our team's rather relaxed efforts, running a partial 6-0 (85-75, 38'), but Evan Fournier and Sasha Vezenkov saw to keep a safety net for our team (90-81). Lack of focus at the end, allowed for Efes to make a last effort for the upset striking from the distance (90-87, 24''). Williams-Goss was calm when called at the free-thow line (92-87), the most crucial defensive play of the game was on point and Olympiacos got the 92-89 win, remaining the top seed.
The quarters: 29-14, 47-40, 74-61, 92-89
