Olympiacos defeated Armani Milano 85-76 at SEF, won the 1st place of the EuroLeague in basketball and is waiting for an opponent in the play offs.
Olympiacos closed the regular season of the EuroLeague in the most emphatic way, confirming its dominance at the top of the organization. Giorgos Bartzokas’s team prevailed over Armani Milano in the packed SEF with 85-76, in a game where they raised their performance in the second half and “cleaned up” the game with tough defense and right choices in the offense. The Piraeus team showed once again depth, quality and the character of a champion, imposing their pace when the game was decided and rightfully reaching a victory that gives them the first place of the regular season. Now, they turn their attention to the playoffs, where they will face the opponent that emerges from the play-in process.
Giorgos Bartzokas’ team completed another highly successful regular season, winning for the third time in four years the top spot, after an 85-76 victory over Olimpia at the “Peace and Friendship Stadium”.
The game picture
Olympiacos met no resistance from Olimpia Milano in the packed SEF and the end of the Euroleague regular season found them at the top of the standings. Nikola Milutinov was named Most Valuable Player of the game with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Now the Piraeus team is waiting to find out their opponent in the playoffs, which will be determined by the play in (it will be the team that will occupy the eighth place). On the other side, the Italians saw their European trip this season end with a 17-21 record.
Olympiacos started the game strong on both ends of the floor, with effective defense on one end and Dorsey and Vezenkov getting hot on the court. The two top scorers of the Reds this season scored 13 of the first 15 points for their team, which gained an early double-digit lead (15-5). Poeta called a timeout and his players responded, cutting the lead to five (15-10) and later to one (19-18). Manion hit a 3-pointer to make it 21-21, and the Piraeus team regained the lead before the first quarter was over (26-23 on Hall’s free throws).
Joseph provided great energy with his entry and sent the difference to seven (31-24), but the Italians came back once again, with the Olympiacos defense looking quite vulnerable (33-32). McCisick made it easy with three free throws (38-32) and Fournier hit a three-pointer to make it 41-32, and Milan had another good stretch until the end of the half to tie it at 45-45 on consecutive threes by Shields and Booker. Dorsey scored an impressive and quite lucky buzzer-beater to end the first half (47-45).
In the third quarter, Olympiacos… tightened its defense while maintaining the same pace on offense. Vezenkov, Milutinov and Dorsey scored most of the points in the “front” half, while in the “back” half, Milan scored double digits with great difficulty. A partial 21-10 run brought the Piraeus team to +13 (68-55) at the end of the third quarter, while the Bulgarian forward scored 20 points in 22 minutes.
The start of the fourth quarter was even better, as a 7-0 run with five points from Hall and two from Fournier created the first +20 (75-55, 32 minutes). The Italians started to score timidly, but Hall continued to hurt them in the paint (79-59, 34′). Poeta’s squad found nine consecutive points from two three-pointers by Brooks and one by Shields to cut the deficit to eight (79-71, 36′). However, the ‘red and white’ defense returned to its… usual performance standards and… hid the baskets, resulting in an 85-76 victory.
The quarters:
Thursday, April 16
Villerban – Fenerbahce 76-81
Makabi Tel Aviv – Virtus Bologna 85-89
Olympiacos – Olimpia Milano 85-76
21:30 Partizan – Baskonia
21:45 Real Madrid – Red Star
Friday, April 17
20:00 Zalgiris – Paris
20:30 Monaco vs Hapoel Tel Aviv
21:00 Dubai vs Valencia
21:15 Panathinaikos vs Anadolu Efes
21:30 Barcelona vs Bayern Munich
