Back to winning

Olympiacos ended Hapoel Tel Aviv’s winning streak, prevailing 62 - 58 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium (SEF) in Round 8 of the EuroLeague and hence returned to winning ways.

Once again, our team started sluggishly. The Israeli side took an early 5 - 10 lead, but with three unanswered 3-pointers (2 from Dorsey and 1 from Walkup), Olympiacos went ahead 14 - 10 in the 6th minute. However, they were unable to take full control of the game. Hapoel’s defense caused serious problems for the 'red & whites' allowing them to close the first quarter leading the score (18 - 21).

The visitors didn’t stop there; Olympiacos’s poor 3-point shooting (5/22 in the first half) and defensive lapses saw the team fall behind by 10 (22 - 32 at 16’). When the ball began to go inside to Nikola Milutinov, Olympiacos managed to close the gap to 3 points (31 - 34 at 19’). Still, Blackney and Oturu made sure Hapoel stayed ahead (33 - 39 at halftime).

The third quarter was offensively poor for both teams, but in the long run, that worked in favor of the hosts. With an 11 - 4 run in that period, Olympiacos moved ahead 44 - 43 at the 30-minute mark. Led by Hall, and with a 4 - 0 spurt, the margin grew to 5 points (48 - 43). Even though Olympiacos stayed in control (58 - 52 at 38’), they couldn’t fully manage the game. Poor offensive decisions, unforced turnovers, and two consecutive 3-pointers by Misic allowed the Israelis to tie it at 58 - 58 (with 38 seconds left).

Milutinov then scored to make it 60 - 58, followed by a steal by Misic and a turnover from Peters, which, fortunately, wasn’t costly, as he lost the ball while trying to bring it down the court and then fouled Misic (23.8’ left). On the ensuing inbound, however, Thomas Walkup drew an offensive foul from Misic, and Sasha Vezenkov sealed the win with 2/2 free throws with 9.1' remaining.

The quarters: 18 - 21, 33 - 39, 44 - 43, 62 - 58.