A defeat due to details in Milan
Olympiacos lost to Armani Milan in Italy 88-87, following three consecutive wins at the Peace and Friendship Stadium.
For Bartzokas' team, Dorsey and Peters - who scored 52 of Olympiacos' 87 points in the game - stood out. However, they weren't enough for Olympiacos that stayed far removed from their usual defensive standards and hence the 7-4 EuroLeague winning record.
Before the beginning of the game, Olympiacos' players sent their own message of support to Keenan Evans doning a t-shirt with the message "Never Lose Hope" and dedicated their effort to our team's player that suffered another unfortunate setback. Together with 1000 loyals, that made Unipol Forum resemble the Peace & Friendship Staium and in the presence of our President, Giorgos Angelopoulos, made sure that the American guard knows everyone is on his side.
Giorgos Bartzokas began the game with Walkup, Dorsey, Fournier, Vezenkov and Milutinov and the Greek-American shooting guard began where he left off with Zalgiris,, scoring the first five points for our team. Armani was excellent behind the 3-point line in the first quarter, making good on 5 out of 7 shots and hence, despite the good beginning by Fournier and Vezenkov who scored 6 points each, the first quarter ended with Armani at +6 (27-21).
In the beginning of the second quarter, Bryant Dunston was amazing and quickly scored 10 points for the first time this season, all the more allowing a double-digit lead for his team (37-27 at 14:34''). For Olympiacos, Alec Peters stepped up at that exact point and moved the needle for a lugging 'red & white' offense with 10 points and 4/4 in the paint.
The first part closed with Armani at +4 (47-43) with Brooks scoring a three from the corner.
In the second half, Olympiacos made a terrible start and Armani got to take a lot of second chance shots, shooting very well from the perimeter and once again building a double digit lead (58-47 at 26'). The Italians were very effective with their defense and with Brooks consistently scoring from the perimeter, closed the quarter at +11 (67-56).
In the fourt quarter, Olympiacos made a strong beginning on both ends of the floor and with Alec Peters continuing his impressive performance and surpassing 20 points for the first time this season, closed in to 7 points (75-68 at 35'). In the last three minutes, Queen Ellis was on 'fire' and with back-to-back threes relieved Armani from any anxiety, while at same time Dorsey and Peters were deploying Olympiacos' final counter-attack.
The British guard scored 9 of the final 14 points for the Italians and Sasha Vezenkov missed a three that would tie the score 9 seconds before the final buzzer, with Armani taking the 88-87 win.
Τhe quarters: 27-21, 47-43, 67-56, 88-87.
