Olympiacos overcame shooting woes to defeat Panathinaikos

Olympiacos Piraeus achieved an unusual feat in Friday’s Greek Derby triumph against Panathinaikos Athens. The Reds made just 3 three-pointers, shooting at 17% from beyond the arc (3-of-17), and they also missed 10 free throws (24-of-34, 70%), yet they still won the game.
The shooting from long range was particularly troublesome, with Georgios Bartzokas’s team missing its first 12 attempts from three-point range before Kostas Papanikolaou finally drained one from beyond the arc with less than four minutes to go in the third quarter.
But it certainly helped that the only other 2 triples for Olympiacos came at key moments late in the game, with Sasha Vezenkov hitting from deep to make it 71-67 with 3:36 to play, and then Thomas Walkup nailing a corner three for a 78-72 cushion with 75 seconds left.
And Walkup’s overall performance was a major reason why the Reds were able to survive their shooting woes. The point guard set a new career high by dishing 13 assists, ensuring his team was highly efficient from two-point range (24-of-35, 68%), while he also added 11 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals for a PIR of 32, another personal best.
Once again, Olympiacos provided another reminder to the rest of the EuroLeague that it is a force to reckoned with, as it can even win games when points are hard to come by. That's a scary prospect with the playoffs just around the corner.