Getting ready to … sweep!

Olympiacos beat PAOK in Pylaia 97-77, leads the semi-finals’ series 2-0 and on Sunday (28/05, 18:05 CET) at the SEF aims to seal the ticket to the Basket League’s finals with a clean ‘sweep’.   

Mainly relying on good perimeter percentages, PAOK got to lead 16-12 and 19-16, but when Kostas Sloukas and Shaquille McKissic entered the equation, the situation was reversed. Our team put more pressure in the back court, went to better offensive decisions and with Sasha Vezenkov consistently scoring, they closed the first half at +3 (21-24). What followed was even better though… The ‘red & whites’ played defence worthy of a seminar, they moved the ball with efficiency and with Kostas Sloukas leading the way, they skyrocketed the difference to +20 (34-54 at 18’). The hosts tried to react and with a partial 7-2 closed in to 15p. (41-56) by the end of the first half.  

In the second half, PAOK came even closer (47-57) at 22’, but Olympiacos, at first with Fall and then with Vezenkov, regained complete control (49-69) at 24’, and they even got to lead by 24 (51-75). The hosts though refused to throw the towel… They tightened their defence, took advantage of the turnovers the ‘red & whites’ were making and closed in to 12p. (67-79) at 32’. But that was that… The two teams were scoring quite efficiently, which benefited Olympiacos at the end, who found solutions with Sloukas and Peters and got an emphatic win. 

The quarters: 21-24, 41-56,  61-79, 77-97.