By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Nikola Milutinov had a commanding double-double of 20 points and a career-high 20 rebounds as Olympiacos Piraeus defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 89 – 72 at home to bounce back to EuroLeague wins in style.
Isaiah Canaan contributed 20 points for Olympiacos, having 11 of them in the second half where his team assumed full control over their opponents.
“That’s why I returned to Olympiacos, it’s an amazing feeling and I thank them for that”, said the Serbian big man after the game, talking about the fact that the fans were chanting his name after his stellar performance.
Wade Baldwin led Maccabi scorers with 18 points while grabbing five rebounds.
His team struggled to contain Milutinov, allowing 20 second-chance points by the break, courtesy of the Serbian big man’s seven offensive boards in the first half.
Alec Peters pitched in 17 points for Olympiacos.
No Fall, but also no Brown
Olympiacos, who was missing center Moustapha Fall, produced a 12-0 run early in the third period to go up 54 – 38 halfway through the quarter and never looked back.
Maccabi couldn’t cope with the key absence of star guard Lorenzo Brown and didn’t manage to recover as the hosts extended their advantage to even 21 points down the stretch.
“Milutinov and the rest of the guys covered the absences because everyone knows what Fall means to Olympiakos”, said coach Bartzokas after the game, adding: “We knew that Maccabi was first in rebounding, Nikola had a 20/20 game, dominated, and helped us win. I have to say how hard it is for them to be based in Belgrade, and traveling back and forth to Israel and they’ve had a great season so far”.
From his side, Maccabi coach Oded Kattash stated: “You have to play a perfect game to beat Olympiacos. We gave up 11-12 offensive rebounds and that was too much. We now have a crazy schedule with a game every two games and the situation in Israel mentally is very difficult. We had 13 assists and also 13 turnovers and that says a lot about our game. We missed Lorenzo Brown but we also missed concentration in our game”.
Thanks to this result, Olympiacos is now tied with Maccabi and also Baskonia at a 12-10 record, between the sixth and the eighth spot of the standings.