Olympiacos was amazing in Barcelona, despite the absence of its captain, beating Barcelona 75-77 (halftime 35-44) and gaining home field advantage for the remainder of the quarterfinal series. The “reds” lead 1-0 and need two more wins to qualify for the final four of the Euroleague.
The two “fighters” will face each other again on Friday night (10:00 PM) in Barcelona. The third match will take place on Tuesday in Piraeus, with tickets already sold out.
Olympiacos led 11-4 thanks to the dominance of Mustafa Fal, but the Catalans temporarily got back into the game: 25-23 with three pointers by Abrines. Kanaan made it 32-35 with his first basket and the Piraeus escaped 34-44, with Petrusev and Wright capitalizing on the inspirations of Thomas Walkup.
The difference reached double digits again, despite Walkup’s 4th foul: 42-53 with baskets by Shaquille McKissick and 47-60 with the unstoppable Nigel Williams-Goss. The counterattack of the Spaniards, who played excellent defense, brought them within striking distance at the beginning of the fourth period: 58-61, with Willy Hernangomet as the protagonist.
Followed by 3/3 shots by Kanaan and two personal baskets by McKissick, which gave Olympiacos a new boost and brought it to 59-69. Ricky Rubio cut it to 64-69 and Lambrovitola brought Barca within striking distance, before Kanaan’s 3-pointer made it 67-72 and Milutinov put Olympiacos up +8.
But the Spaniards played their last roll, with a steal by Rubio, who made it 72-75. Giannoulis Larentzakis answered with 2/2 shots in the 35”, the Spaniards shot 1 out of 2 and Olympiacos celebrated the double.
Giorgos Bartzokas used Walkup, Williams-Goss 15, Kanaan 14, Larentzakis 2, Brazdeikis 2, McKissick 9, Peters 1, Petrusef 12, Sikma 4, Milutinov 3, Fall 11, Wright 4.
Filip Petrusev injured his knee shortly before the final and withdrew on support. The patient Kostas Papanikolaou was absent, he stayed in Athens and is expected to miss the second match as well. The owners of KAE Olympiacos, the Angelopoulos brothers, were among the spectators.
From Barcelona, coached by Roger Grimau, Hernangomet 13, Abrines 11, Parker 13, Rubio 10, Laprovitola 9, Kalinic 6 stood out.
Panathinaikos will welcome Maccabi to OAKA on Thursday night (21.15), hoping to tie the series at 1-1. The Israelis won the first match 91-87 and took the home advantage (Lesor 22, Slukas 12, Grant 11, Grigonis 11). The third match will be played behind closed doors on Tuesday in Belgrade. The participation of the injured Juancho Hernangomet and Wade Baldwin in the second game has already been ruled out.
The teams that complete three victories will qualify for the Berlin final-four (May 24-26). Fenerbahce are also at 1-0, after today’s 95-91 win over Monaco in the Principality (overtime, 81-81, Calathes 17, Dorsey 13, Papagiannis 4) and Real, which easily defeated Baskonia in Madrid with 90- 74.
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