By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Ιt was ugly, intense, and had a lot of free throws, made and missed.
When it was all said and done, Olympiacos got the 77-71 win over Real Madrid and also the 2-0 advantage in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs, making one more step towards the Final Four.
Sasha Vezenkov scored 22 points and also got seven rebounds, Evan Fournier added 17 points on 3/16 FG and also 9/10 free throws, while Nikola Milutinov finished the night with 10 points and 6 rebounds.
“We didn’t play with the same energy we did two days ago, and this was a problem, but it was how it was, and the most important thing is that we won”, said Milutinov after the final buzzer.
Mario Hezonja, with 22 points, was the top scorer of Real Madrid, Facundo Campazzo had nine points, and no other player scored more than seven.
Both teams had an off-shooting night, with Olympiacos finishing the game with 9/32 threes and Real Madrid with 7/22, and even missed free throws as the Greeks had 24/33 and the Spaniards made 10 out of 17.
A game of runs
Real Madrid had a great start, opening the game leading by eight (14-6), pushing their advantage to 13 points (23-10), and closing the first period up by 10 (25-15).
Olympiacos, on the other hand, was shooting just 1/12 threes until Saben Lee scored the second three-pointer of his team, trimming Real’s lead to three points (34-31) on the way to a 9-0 run by Olympiacos, completed by Milutinov’s two free throws to make it a one-point game (34-33).
Evan Fournier, with his first three of the game, tied the score at 36, Olympiacos even took a 38-36 lead, and at halftime the score was tied at 38.
Vezenkov with 13 points led the way for Olympiacos, while Real Madrid didn’t have a player scoring more than five points, but 11 of them had already scored.
Nothing changed much in the third period with Hezonja scoring his own first three and then two free throws, making the score 52-45 for Madrid.
Olympiacos closed the gap to two (52-50) with Fournier making 5/6 free throws and ultimately taking the 57-54 lead with Luca Vildoza scoring a three to close the third period.
Τhe Reds opened the last quarter with seven unanswered points in four minutes (64-54), completing a 14-0 run and getting for the first time a double-digit cushion.
The home side led by 11 (67-56), but entering the last three minutes, Hezonja made it a five-point game (67-62) with a personal 6-0 run. Campazzo closed the gap to three (67-64), forcing a timeout.
Α big three by Alec Peters gave Olympiacos a six-point distance (70-64), Madrid couldn’t score, and Nigel Williams-Goss made one more (73-64) with 64 seconds left, closing the night on a high note.
Photo credit: Eurokinissi