Olympiacos did it again. With a new break, Barcelona prevailed 63-59 in Barcelona and with 3-2 wins qualified for the Final-4 of the Euroleague, which will take place in Berlin.
A series that will be remembered for many years and for many different reasons, a 20-minute series between two extremely tough teams, ended on Wednesday night (8/5) with Olympiakos beating the Palau Blaugrana 63-59 and dropping on the canvas Barcelona, to punch his ticket to the Final Four in Berlin (May 24-26).
The Lions of Piraeus have done it again. Giorgos Bartzokas’ Lions took the baton from Fenerbahce and became only the second team to break in Game 5.
Ο MVP
Shaquille McKissick was the spark in the final period, scoring 9 of his 12 points in the stretch.
The weak link
Nikola Kalinic played a really bad game, missing 19’07” of participation (0/4 two-pointers, 0/3 three-pointers) to write -9 in the ranking.
The statistic that stood out
Barcelona closed the first period with six steals, with six mistakes by Olympiacos, who scored three baskets in 14 shots. At halftime the Piraeus had now limited the possessions they were wasting, together both teams had 3/24 three-pointers. Finally, the match ended with the Piraeus having 16/32 two-pointers, 6/23 three-pointers, 13/24 shots, while the Blaugrana had 18/38 two-pointers, 4/26 three-pointers, 11/13 shots.
Series results
Game 1: Barcelona – Olympiacos 75-77
Game 2: Barcelona – Olympiacos 77-69
Game 3: Olympiacos – Barcelona 80-82 (overtime)
Game 4: Olympiacos – Barcelona 92-58
Game 5: Barcelona – Olympiacos 59-63
The race
With its classic five (Walkap, Kanan, Papanikolaou, Peters, Fal) Olympiacos entered the match, which did not find good shots in the first minutes, it was difficult to break the defense of Barcelona, but it was equally dynamic. Peters scored the first basket in the 4′ for 2-2 (!), but Laprovitola found his hand, scored alone for 8-2 and Bartzokas waited for the TV timeout to put Petrusev and Milutinov in the match. The 12-9 of the period flattered the Piraeus who had six errors (six steals by the home team), but even so they were one possession away.
A 6-0 run by Barcelona pushed the lead to nine early in the second period (18-9 at 12′), but again Olympiacos stayed relatively close. The five-seven points were few, but they seemed enough with the way the match had taken, with Kanan being charged with a foul on a three-pointer by Laprovitola (3/3 shots for 25-19) while Bartzokas had drawn with complain to Larentzakis on the bench. 27-25 at halftime seemed unimaginable, but to those who hadn’t watched the previous four games of the series.
Bartjokas opened the second half with Petrusev in the back four, swapped Fal for Milutinov in the 24th minute and saw Walkup persevere and vindicate the long-range shot. The 38-35 at 26′ put more pressure on Barcelona, with the match getting worse and worse, but more and more fierce. Papanikolaou made a 3-pointer for 40-40 at 29′ and that was the score of the third period, which had drained many players from both teams.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter you felt that every basket counted as a double and every point for a basket. Billy scored between three bodies for 45-42 at 32′, Bartzokas called a timeout, but at 33′ Petrusev was charged with an unsportsmanlike foul, Laprovitola made the shots for 47-42 and the home team took a breather again. And as it had done time and time again, Olympiacos found solutions, reduced to a basket (47-45) with a two-pointer by Williams-Goss and went ahead (49-47) with a three-pointer by McKissick.
And from there on, war. McKissick made a three-pointer for 49-52 and a big basket for 49-54 soon after. Kostas Papanikolaou added another big three-pointer for 49-57 with 2’25” left on the clock. Barcelona put together five points with Abrines and Vesely to cut it to 54-57 with 72″ to go. Nikola Milutinov nailed it for 54-59 with 17″ on the clock.
THE REFEREES: Radovic, Javor, Nikolic
BARCELONA (Grimeau): Da Silva, Vesely 6 (4 turnovers), Rubio 6 (4 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals, 2 turnovers), Kalinic (0/7 shooting), Satoranski 2 (2/2 shots, 8 rebounds, 5 assist, 3 steals, 1 foul), Hernangometh 9, Laprovitola 17 (2/7 3-pointers, 7 rebounds, 4 assists), Abrines 13 (2), Parker 4 (0/7 3-pointers), Yokubaitis 2.
OLYMPIC (Bartzokas): Walkup 3 (1/6 3-pointers), Williams-Goss 8 (4 assists, 6 turnovers), Wright 2, Kanan 6 (1/7 shots, 4/5 shots), Larentzakis, Fal (0/4 shots , 5 rebounds), Papanikolaou 11 (3/6 three-pointers), Peters 6, Petrusev 5 (1/4 two-pointers, 3/4 shots), Milutinov 10 (10 rebounds), McKissick 12 (2).
Barcelona’s team stats: 18/38 2-pointers, 4/26 3-pointers, 11/13 shots, 37 rebounds (25 defensive + 12 offensive), 17 assists, 12 steals, 13 turnovers, 2 blocks.
Olympiacos’ team stats: 16/32 2-pointers, 6/23 3-pointers, 13/24 shots, 43 rebounds (31 defensive + 12 offensive), 15 assists, 7 steals, 16 fouls, 3 blocks.
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