Mission accomplished
Olympiacos bested Zaligris 90-80 at the SEF, for the 2nd day of the Euroleague and has a perfect two for two record.
Our team played without captain Kostas Papanikolaou (tendonitis) as well as without its fans (due to punishment inflicted following the 5th quarter-finals game against Monaco).
The ‘red & white’ made a sluggish start in the game, committed back to back turnovers and saw Zalgiris building a +7 difference (4-11). With Moustapha Fall spearheading the offense, our team replied with a 10-0 run and got ahead for the first time in the game (14-11 at 5’). The Lithuanians however did not surrender and got to lead again at the beginning of the 2nd quarter (20-23). Giannoulis Larentzakis and Sasha Vezenkov took it up to restoring order (31-27) and – despite the good perimeter percentages of the guests – helped Olympiacos finish the first half at +9 (44 – 35).
Relying on its long range shooting, Zalgiris closed in at 4p. (52-4), however, through good defense and offensive pluralism, Olympiacos maintained complete control and raised the margin to 11p. for the first time (67-56 at 29’). The Lithuanians did not give up the fight this time either… They pressed in defense, created problems for Olympiacos’ offense, struck from the three point line and closed in at 4p. (74-70 at 36’). But it was as far as they could go… Bartzokas’ players ran a partial 12-3 (86-73 at 39’) and it was somewhere at that point that the win was decided.
The quarters: 18-21, 41-35, 67-58, 90-80.
OLYMPIACOS
ZALGIRIS
