A dominant win in Paris
Olympiacos beat Paris on the road (90-73) for the 25th Euroleague round and remains alone at the top ranking spot.
With Sasha Vezenkov leading the offense big time, Olympiacos played a magnificent first quarter against Paris. Our team played with its focus trained on defense, got the defensive rebounds and did not allow the hosts to run the transition. The Bulgarian forward made the score 7-15 (5') with his 11th personal point, while Evan Fournier was the one to score a three and block an opponents 3-pointer right after. The guests completely controlled the tempo, with Kostas Papanikolaou facilitating and Vezenkov and Williams-Goss scoring, hence leading even by 20 (10-30, 8') with the quarter closing at 15-30.
With McKissic and Larentzakis as point-guards given the absence of Wlakup and Vildoza, our team lost ground in the second quarter, since the Parisians ran a partial 9-2 (24-32, 14'). When Williams-Goss returned on the floor, clear thinking in offense returned as well, when at the same time the focus on defense remained uncompromised. Our team found a new leader in Giannoulis Larentzakis who contributed on both ends of the floor and the 'red & whites' ran a partial 12-0 of their own (24-44, 18'), regaining control of the game. Larentzakis, after blocking a 3-point attempt by Paris, scored an off-balance 3-pointer of his own, making the score 31-48.
Intensity was not the same in the beginning of the second half and Olympiacos saw the difference dropping to single digits (40-49, 22'). However, our team found answers fast, with Wiliams-Goss, Evan Fournier and Sasha Vezenkov (44-59, 25') and Moustapha Fall dunked for the 46-61 a little later. The margin once again dramatically dropped (52-51), but the third quarter ended 58-67 for our team. The last 10 minutes began with Paris getting second chances (since they were winning the battle for the rebounds, making their final counter-attack (65-71, 33'), but our team held strong retaining the lead. A dunk by Milutinov, a big three by Williams-Goss plus 2 free throws gave Olympiacos a 15 point 'breather', who ran a partila 6-0 (70-88, 39') and finally got the 90-73 win, improving his winning record to 18-7.
The quarters: 15-30, 31-48, 58-67, 73-90
