Amazing 40 minutes from Olympiakos, who beat Barcelona 77-75 at Palau Blaugrana and took the home field advantage in the EuroLeague playoffs. Williams-Goss and Kanan are the leaders for Piraeus.
Whoever expected hand-to-hand battles for forty minutes, whoever expected a derby taken from other decades, whoever expected Barcelona and Olympiakos to clash in every phase, were vindicated on Wednesday night (24/4). Two great teams gave a real basketball show in the Palau Blaugrana, with the Piraeus taking the victory (77-73), making the break with “good evening” in the EuroLeague quarterfinal series and having four chances for the two results that will send them to the Final Four in Berlin.
Magical display from Nigel Williams-Goss, massive first-period display from Mustafa Fal and second-period display from Filip Petrusev, magical display from the red and whites overall in defence, with Isaiah Cannon taking the big shots and putting them in as well Giorgos Bartzokas to cover even more the absence of Kostas Papanikolaou. Before locking up the match with Nikola Milutinov, who came on midway through the fourth period for the first time in the match and had a catalytic contribution.
Billy Hernangometh, Alex Abrines and Jabari Parker were the ones who stood out from Barcelona, who “put” their world in the match many times, were very busy with the referees, but every time they got close and had opportunities to go forward, something was missing . Roger Grimmow expected more from Satoranski and Vesely, but the 40 minutes went down in history and will be quickly forgotten as the second game of the series follows in two nights.
Series results and schedule
Game 1: Barcelona – Olympiacos 73-77
Game 2: Barcelona – Olympiacos 26/4 at 22:00
Game 3: Olympiacos – Barcelona 30/4 at 21:30
Game 4: Olympiacos – Barcelona 2/5 at 19:45 (if necessary)
Game 5: Barcelona – Olympiacos 8/5 (if necessary)
Ο MVP
Great performances from Nigel Williams-Goss and Isaiah Cannon, it will be unfair if one gets the award. We share it with them and they will surely be pleased. The former was amazing on a night when Thomas Walkup was unprepared and had a lot of trouble with fouls, the latter took and put in big shots, in a stadium he really loves.
The weak link
Jan Vesely lost the battles in both rackets. He didn’t help his team in scoring (he had three points from shots), but Tomas Satoranski was also bad. It was the two Czechs who fell behind for Barcelona.
The race
With Peters at three and Sikmas at four, Olympiacos opened the match, with Fal having no opponent in the raker. The Frenchman hit the first three baskets of the contest (0-6 in 4′), before Williams-Goss scored five runs for 4-11 as Bartzokas had already replaced Kanan (injury) – Peters (two fouls). Parker and Laprovitola collected the difference in the point, but Fal’s dominance was universal and 18-19 of the period fair. Even if he didn’t say the slightest thing.
Bartzokas opened the second with Wright at five, put Larentzakis in place of Brazdeikis at 12′ with the score at 25-23 and saw Petrusev-Williams-Goss write 30-32 at 14′. An unsportsmanlike foul on Wright sent the crowd into a frenzy, Wright was 0/2, Palau was rocked by the crowd, and Kanan responded with a 3-pointer to make it 34-42 at 18′. At a point where others would have melted like chocolates, Olympiacos held on, went to +10 (34-44) with Petrusev and closed the first part at a good distance.
Bartzokas opened the second half with McKissick on the two and Peters on the three, kept Kanaan on the bench, saw Walkup get technical in the 23′ and reach four fouls, but also saw Williams-Goss score from mid-range for 40-51 at 24′. And to put a goal-foul for 47-60 at 27′. Barcelona responded with a small 7-0, reduced and put their people back into the match, but once once more Olympiacos seemed to have a better footing in Palau.
The Reds went without a point for 3:21 early in the fourth until Kanaan hit a 3-pointer to make it 58-64. Even there they held on, when everything seemed once morest them, even when Fal was charged with his fourth foul. The defense continued to be amazing, McKissick made it 59-69 on the spurt and when Barcelona cut to the basket, Kanan made a three-pointer to make it 67-72, the defense came out and Milutinov nailed and drew the foul for 67- 75.
At 63″ Walkup lost the ball and committed an unsportsmanlike foul, was sent off and gave Barcelona the biggest chance for the upset. Rubio made the shots, but Laprovitola made a poor pass to Hernangomet. Olympiacos called a timeout, Petrusev was fouled while trying to score, he was injured and replaced by Larentzakis at 35.9″. He took the shots, put them in for 72-77 and finally decided the match.
THE REFEREES: Yavor, Hordov, Peranti
THE DECADES: 18-19, 35-44, 54-61, 75-77
Barcelona’s team statistics: 18/38 2-pointers, 7/22 3-pointers, 18/24 shots, 33 rebounds (12 offensive – 21 defensive), 19 assists, 8 steals, 17 turnovers, 1 block
The team statistics of Olympiakos: 22/35 2-pointers, 5/17 3-pointers, 18/17 shots, 31 rebounds (6 offensive – 25 defensive), 20 assists, 11 steals, 19 fouls
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