«Pummelled » PAOK and is getting ready for Villeurbanne!
Olympiacos beat PAOK at the SAF with characteristic ease (100-70) for the 20th day of the Basket League and remains undefeated in the competition.
Now, Giorgos Bartzokas’ team is completely focusing its attention on the double game week against Villeurbanne (29/03) and Panathinaikos (31/03).
The sluggish beginning of the ‘red & whites’ combined with the good long range percentages of the guests, resulted in the game being a derby up until 8’ (21-20). However, what transpired then was completely different… Our team put pressure in the back court and with Sasha Vezenkov and Kostas Sloukas being the initial leading men before Tarik Black and Thomas Wlakup picked up the baton (the latter, although without scoring during that time, gave Olympiacos rhythm), ‘ran’ a partial 21-1 and skyrocketed the difference (+19, 42-23) at 16’. Giorgos Bartzokas tried to allocate minutes in view of the difficult schedule ahead (a double game week follows for the Euroleague competition), however, this did not have the slightest impact on the game’s tempo, with Olympiacos maintaining a steady wide lead (49-30 at 20’).
With a 2-pointer by Kostas Sloukas, our team got to lead by 20 (59-39) at 25’, however, turnovers and defensive gaps allowed for PAOK to close in to 12p. (64-5 at 29’). Nevertheless, the reflexes of Bartzokas’ players were on the spot. They once again put pressure in defence, struck from the perimeter with Giannoulis Larentzakis, Alec Peters and Shaquielle McKissic and sent the margin sky-high to 29p. (92-63) at 38’, securing the win. They did now slow down though and went after the 100p. marker, which they got to score with a bucket by Michalis Lountzis at the buzzer (100-70).
- Isaiah Canaan was absent from the game, since he was in the States on leave, where he went so that he could be with his wife at the birth of their second child.
- The legendary David Rivers watched the game at the SEF!
The quarters: 30-22, 49-30, 66-52, 66-52, 100-70.
