By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
It was a game decided at the buzzer and Even Fournier created a moment to remember.
Olympiacos beat Barcelona on the road 90-88 thanks to a buzzer-beating layup by the French star.
“We wanted to play with the time and go to the basket at the end, not giving time to Barcelona for the last shot,” explained Olympiacos coach Georgios Bartzokas the last play’s gameplan.
In total, Fournier had 18 points, Sasha Vezenkov was the top scorer with 24 and Nigel Williams-Goss added also 20 points.
Kevin Punter scored 20 points for Barcelona, Chimezi Metu had 16 points, and Dario Brizuela and Jabari Parker added 14 points each.
Olympiacos remains all alone on top of the standings with a 19-7 record, while Barcelona is tied at 14-12 with Partizan and Milan between the 8th and the 10th spot of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings.
A game to remember
The game was a derby from the first moment. Olympiacos closed the first period up by four (22-18) and Barcelona was up by two (47-45) at halftime with Chimezie Metu for the hosts and Sasha Vezenkov for the guests already scoring 12 points each.
The efficiency of Olympiacos was spectacular with 70% in two-pointers and 40% in threes, while Barcelona’s focus was uncanny, making just one turnover in the first two quarters.
With Punter reaching the 10-point mark, Barcelona opened the second half extending their lead to nine points (56-47) only for Olympiacos to answer with a 10-0 run in one minute and get the lead back (57-56).
The story didn’t change in the third period with Olympiacos closing it up by one (66-65), however, the Greeks opened the last period with an 8-2 run building a 74-67 lead.
Barcelona trimmed the lead to three (78-75) and then to two (84-82) after a big three by Dario Brizuela with less than two minutes left.
With the two teams exchanging baskets, Kevin Punter tied the score at 88 from the free throws line with 18.9 seconds left and Fournier won the game for Olympiacos.
Photo credit: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague