A battle lost
Olympiacos turned the game around twice (at first from trailing by 18 and then from _10), but wasn’t able to get the win in Milan. The team ‘collapsed” during the final couple of minutes of the game and lost 79-90 for the 22nd round of the Euroleague.
The ‘reds’ dominated rebounding (4-10), however, lack of facilitation, turnovers and the terrible shooting percentages from the perimeter (1/6 threes against 3/3 for Armani), allowed the Italians to close the first quarter leading 24-19. All the more, in the second quarter, nothing worked properly for the Bartzokas’ players up until 18’. Gaps in their defense, terrible choices in the offense and fouls that gave the hosts really early on free throws bonus, resulted in the difference to skyrocket for Armani – following a partial 20-7 – at +18 (44-26) at 18’. At that point (and although Giorgos Bartzokas had received a technical foul), the ‘reds’ woke up. They put pressure to the defense, found scoring from the perimeter (with Shaquielle McKissic and Kostas Sloukas), “ran’ a partial 8-0 and closed in at 10p. (44-34) at 20’.
The counter-attack went on into the second half. With good defense and excellent precision from the 6.75m. arc (6/10 only in the 3rd quarter), our team succeeded in tying the game 60-60 at 28’. Relying mainly on the fact that they were scoring from the free throw line (a total of 24/19 free throws against 9/11 for Olympiacos), Armani was steadily at the driver’s seat, while when they found scoring from the perimeter, they got to send the difference to +10 (77-67 at 35’). Nevertheless, Bartzokas’ players reacted once again… They contained offensive production for the hosts, “struck” from the perimeter with Sloukas and Vezenkov and closed in to two points (81-79) at 38’. However, a three by Malcolm Delany, although under pressure and at the end of the 24’’ clock for Armani – and despite the ‘reds’ seeming to have succeeded with their defensive play at the moment – (84-79), combined with bad decisions by our team in the offense that was now … depleted of stamina, were the elements that turned the scale for the hosts, that reached a +11 (90-79), mainly thanks to Kevin Punter.
The quarters: 24-19, 44-34, 65-62, 90-79.
"We had the chance to win"
The coach of Olympiacos, Giorgos Bartzokas, stated: “Congratulations to Armani. It was a tough game. I think we had the chance to win it. For us, the critical moment was at one minute and thirty seconds before the end, when we were trailing by two, Armani saved the possession of a practically lost ball and scored a very difficult shot. I can’t have any complaints from my players. They have played a lot of games in the last twenty days and have fought in all of them. That’s very important for us. Of course, we should have done a better job defending against a very creative team, with good scorers. That we should have done… We cannot linger any longer on this game. We play against Barcelona in two days and we have to focus on that game”.