They could win … even with half the roster
Olympiacos fought against their bad luck, but despite coming really close, they were not able to win at the OAKA.
The team lost to Panathinaikos 67-65 in a game where they were missing Kostas Sloukas (gastroenteritis), saw Thomas Walkup ejected 40’’ following the beginning of the 3rd quarter and Sasha Vezenkov getting injured in his right knee at 27’ and being carried off the floor by his team-mates.
Gaps in defense and turnovers combined with the good perimeter percentages of the ‘greens’, allowed the hosts to build a +11 lead (15-4) at 4’. Our team tried to react (17-13), however, they did not move the ball efficiently, went to bad decisions and saw Panathinaikos increasing the distance even more (+12, 25-13 at 10’).
The entrance of Joel Bolomboy though was combined with the improvement in Walkup’s performance and hence changed the outlook of the game. Our team pressed in the backcourt, found scoring from the perimeter and tied the score (25-25) at 13’. From there on, the two teams were constantly exchanging the lead, with the ‘red & whites’ being the ones to finish the first half leading (+2, 33-35).
Just 40’’ following the beginning of the 3rd quarter, a technical foul for flopping was called on Thomas Walkup and he was ejected from the game, since he had been charged with an unsportsmanlike foul in the first half as well! As if that wasn’t enough, at 27’ (and while the score was 46-44 for the hosts), Sasha Vezenkov suffered a blow in his knee and was urgently transported to the “Athens’ Medical Center”, where he underwent an MRI (the diagnosis being a bone edema in the posterior surface of the medial tibial condyle of his right knee). However, through its solid defensive game, our team got the lead by 4p. (46-50) at 29’. Panathinaikos found solutions from the long range and the game remained a derby till the end.
Olympiacos though had the chance to leave the OAKA with the win. At 39’, Papanikolaou scored a three that made the score 64-65, Olympiacos made good on their defense, but Larentzakis failed to increase the lead. 17.4’’ before the final buzzer, Ponitka scored from the three point line and wrote the final 67-65, since in the last offensive attempt of the ‘red & whites’ Shaquielle McKissic was not able to score.
The quarters: 25-13, 33-35, 51-50, 67-65.
