An easy win in Pylaia

With Moustapha Fall playing a tremendous game (he finished with a triple double of 10 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists) and completely covering up the gap left by the absence of Nikola Milutinov, Olympiacos beat PAOK in Thessaloniki 77-63, for the 5th day of the Basket League.

Relying on Alec Peters and Ingas Brazdeikis to carry the offense, the ‘red & whites’ got an 8p. lead (9-17) at 8’. However, in the two minutes that followed, the hosts took advantage of turnovers and the holes in our team’s defense and got back with a 7-0 partial (16-17 at 10’). Olympiacos struggled to find rhythm up until the middle of the 2nd quarter (25-27). Nevertheless, some good defense and with Kostas Papanikolaou taking over, they ran a partial 10-3 that marked the closing of the first half with a +9 lead for our team (28-37).  

In the second half, the ‘red & whites’ remained scoreless for about three minutes, during which time PAOK ran a partial 6-0 and closed in to 3p. (34-33). With two back to back threes by Walkup and Brazdeikis, Olympiacos once again opened up the difference to 9p. (34-43), while then, relying on their good defensive game, but also Moustapha Fall’s dominance in the post, shot up the difference to 17p. (41-58) at 31’. From there on, Olympiacos maintained complete control (56-74 at 38’) and got the win with ease.

*In addition to Nikola Milutinov, Giorgos Bartzokas missed the service of both Luke Sikma and Shaquielle McKissic.

* The 17year old Anastasios Rozakeas made his debut for the Basket League.

The quarters: 16-17, 28-37, 41-53, 63-77.