Dominated PAOK and now on for the Greek Cup...
Olympiacos did as expected, beating PAOK 86-60 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, for the 18th day of the Basket League and is now getting ready for the Greek Cup Final 8.
Two days after February 8, a somber date for the family of Olympiacos, all the players of the team, just like those of the opponent, honored the memory of the tragic victims of Gate 7, just before the tip-off, while also a moment of silence was observed.
Our team played without Walkup, Milutinov and Papanikolaou, did not have much energy defense wise at the beginning and saw PAOK leading the score early on (2-6, 2'). Up until 5', Sasha Vezenkov was the only scorer for our team (8-13, 5'), with Evan Fournier scoring a 3-pointer for the 11-13, but also the guests replying in the same fashion (11-16). Fall and Vildoza made for a one-point game (17-18), but the quarter ended with PAOK at +4 (17-21). In the second quarter, our team found a new scoring leader in Alec Peters (21-23, 12'), but continued trailing the score, mainly due to lack of defensive intensity (25-33, 15'). Two back-to-back threes by Alec Peters and Tyler Dorsey dropped the difference to 31-33, 17'), with half-time ending at 34-35.
The second half began with more focus and intensity on defense that produced a partial 14-1 for our team (48-36, 25'). The hosts completely imposed the tempo, with Sasha Vezenkov and Evan Fournier leading the offense and Nigel Williams-Goss contributing on both ends of the floor, in a quarter that ended with a partial 27-8 run for our team. Vezenkov and Peters made two consecutive threes at the end, making the score 61-43. In the last quarter, Olympiacos that saw Luca Vildoza leaving the court injured during the first three minutes of the third quarter and not coming back, used an extended rotation. The foundations for the win were already set though and our team maintained a 20-point lead (69-38, 34'). Tyler Dorsey and Giannoulis Larentzakis led scoring (78-57, 38') with the 'red & whites' reaching an emphatic 86-60 win and now training their focus on the Greek Cup Final 8.
The quarters: 17-21, 34-35, 61-43, 86-60.
