Olympiacos – Baskonia 74-75: The upset was 0.7″ away (vid)

Olympiacos, after the tragic second quarter and made an extra effort, turned the match around, but a shot under pressure from McIntyre deprived them of the victory and Baskonia celebrated with 74-75.

Baskonia took advantage of an amazing second quarter (9-30) and despite the amazing effort of the “red and white” in the second half, prevailed in Olympiakos’ SEF with 74–75 with a basket by McIntyre 0.7 before the final horn and forced him into a second home defeat. The players of Giorgos Bartzokas put their souls on the floor, they managed to overtake with 72-71 and 74-73but they did not complete the turnaround from the -18 they had been in.

After two minutes without rhythm, Olympiacos, thanks to the creation and accuracy of Papanikolaou and Peters from 6.75, quickly found themselves in front with the score 13-2 (5′). Walkup in defensive cooperation with his teammates had “locked” Howard, disorganizing the Basques. Bartzokas ordered the ball to touch Fala’s hands and the Frenchman justified him with points and assists, something that was also reflected in the score (20-9, 8′). However, the Basques, with the entry of Moneke, made sure to find the necessary solutions, reducing to 26-20 at the end of the opening period.

The guests with 2/2 three-pointers from Marinkovic managed to equalize at 26 points (12′). However, they did not stay there and completely dominating Olympiakos in the following minutes, leading 30-38 (16′). Goss didn’t set a good pace, Brazdeikis was misguided and in general the attack was… stuck for good putting the Basques at +18 (32-50, 19′) with Moneke doing whatever the “red and white” defense wants.

Kanaan took the situation into his own hands at the beginning of the third quarter and with 2/2 three-pointers he tried to ignite the spark that Olympiacos needed, but Moneke and Howard responded in the same way without changing anything in essence (43-61, 24′). Walkup’s 4th foul sent him to the bench, but Kanaan and Peters had decided to do everything to change the tempo of the game (53-61, 26‘). THEi “redall whites” had done half the work at the end of the period (60-67) and there was still so much left.

THE THElubiaMr hheygwhen Mralthe defense and a third player to help Peters and Kanaan score. On the back side of the court, all five players (Gos, Larentzakis, Kanaan, Papanikolaou, Fal) had hidden the basket, while on the front side, Fal and Larentzakis scored, bringing the game (almost) to the level (66-67, 32′). In the next three minutes, the defense kept Olympiacos within a breathing distance, but the bad decisions in the attack din they allowed the prohsma (66-69, 35′). THEi Piraeus were looking for a last reaction and Larentzakis’ three-pointer (69-71, 37′) was a start and that of Peters the continuation (72-71, 39′). Two mistakes in the attack gave Moneke the right to make it 72-73, but “Lare” with 2/2 shots put his team in front again (73-74). McIntyre, despite the amazing defense of Canaan, scored under pressure and shaped the final score (74-75) since it was impossible for Olympiacos to score in the remaining 7 tenths.