By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Last season Brose Bamberg was famous for their inability to close most of their EuroLeague games. But in this campaign, they are making a name for being perhaps the most “die-hard” team in the competition.
The star: Dorell Wright scored a EuroLeague career-high 20 points and grabbed 7 rebounds as Brose Bamberg came back from a 12-point deficit to defeat Olympiacos 67 – 65 in front of its home crowd, ending the Reds’ five-game winning streak and improving to 6-6.
The key: The Bavarians completely shut down their opponents in the fourth period, forcing them to only three points in the last six minutes, mainly thanks to Daniel Hackett’s (13 points, 6 rebounds) immense defensive efforts, whether he was on a guard, or stopping someone at the post.
With the score 52 – 62 and six minutes remaining, the hosts made a 13 – 0 run to take the lead after a 3-pointer by Augustine Rubit. Oly remained silent for the next possessions but still got a chance to win it after Janis Strelnieks scored from downtown to make it 67 – 65 with 33 seconds left.
Yet that was the visiting squad’s last basket in the match since their last offenses suffered from lack of ball movement or solid decision making by the team’s shooters. Thus they dropped to 9 – 3.
Giorgos Printezis led Olympiacos with 12 points and 7 rebounds while Vassilis Spanoulis had 11 points and 4 assists. The only silver lining for the Greek team, that played without Nikola Milutinov and Dimitris Agravanis, was perhaps Kyle Wiltjer who provided solid minutes on both ends during the first half (he lost track after the break) and finished with a season-high 10 points.
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