A defeat in Belgrade
Olympiacos, although having led even by 15p. in Belgrade, lost to Crvena Zvezda 81-88, for the 15th day of the Euroleague.
The hosts began with 3/3 threes and got to lead 9-5. The 'reds' however, reacted immediately. They put pressure in defense, contained their turnovers, passed the ball inside the post and turned the tables (16-21, at 10'). They didn't get to stop there though… Relying on their absolute dominion at rebounding, their good percentages and the 'hot' arm of Brandon Paul, they 'skyrocketed' the difference to +15 (24-39 at 15'). The Serbs replied with an 11-2 partial and closed in at 6 (35-41, at 18'). Neverthless, Paul was there once again and had an immense contribution so that our team regained complete control (36-48, at 20').
The 'reds' performance though plunged in the second half. Defensive gaps, terrible offensive choices and turnovers, allowed Crvean Zvezda to take a 61-58 lead at 29'. The outlook remained the same in the last quarter. Lorenzo Brown and Billy Baron continued easily loading our team's basket, 'building' a +13 margin for the hosts (87-74 at 38'). Brandon Paul and Giorgos Printezis continued fighting, but weren't able to do anything more than closing in 87-81. The final 88-81 was made by Brown with 1 out of 2 free throws made.
The quarters: 16-21, 36-48, 61-61, 88-81.
Crvena Zvezda (Sakota): Κuzmic, Covic, Brown 34 (2), Davidovac 4 (1), Lazic 8, Faye, Baron 17 (4), Dobric 6 (2), Gist 8, Jenkins 3 (1), Simanic 6 (2), Ojo 2
Οlympiacos (Κemzura): Rochestie 7 (1 3p., 5 as), Baldwin 4, Paul 21 (5), Κoniaris 3 (1), Spanoulis 4, Cherry, Μilutinov 15 (11 reb), Vezenkov 5 (1), Printezis 14 (8 reb), Papanikolaou 2, Reed 6.
"We lost our mind"
The Olympiacos coach, Kestuties Kemzura, commented: "Congratulations to Crvena Zvezda for the victory. We followed our plan in the first part and made a few defensive mistakes. However, the second part, was completely different. The energy, the toughness and the physical game Crvena Zvezda was playing in the second half took us off balance in the offense. The worst part though was that we couldn't stop them defense wise. Lorenzo Brown had a great night. Baron made some tough shots, but we received easy buckets. They scored 88 points, we should have better with our defense. Also, if you see the stats, they had 8 more possessions due to our turnovers that allowed them offensive rebounds. There are a lot of factors in a game like this one. At some point, we lost control due to the very physical game our opponent was playing. We lost our mind and paid the price".