The Reds dominated on defense and offense in second straight road victory
Olympiacos pulls off ‘basketball clinic’ on both ends to beat Bayern
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 6 of 38
Regular Season
FC Bayern MunichBAY
7196
Olympiacos PiraeusOLY
Overview
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Last week’s stunning 94-95 comeback victory away at Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv barely pleased anyone at Olympiacos Piraeus.
As Sasha Vezenkov stressed before the game against FC Bayern Munich, the Reds were not happy with their outing, with the 2022-23 EuroLeague MVP claiming that his team would “not have a chance” in Germany if they pulled off a similar performance on Friday night.
The flip had been switched.
A locked-in Olympiacos took to the floor at SAP Garden, producing a dominant display on both ends from start to finish. With Thomas Walkup and Evan Fournier back from their respective injuries, head coach Georgios Bartzokas was given the opportunity to find a balance between the starters and the second unit.
A small tactical tweak saw a red-hot Tyler Dorsey retain his starting spot alongside Walkup, with Fournier coming off the bench along with his France teammate Frank Ntilikina. This way, Olympiacos had either Dorsey or Fournier on the floor throughout the game, with the two guards providing the backcourt firepower when needed.
Bayern started strong with Andreas Obst netting 7 straight points, but Dorsey responded with three mid-range jumpers and a triple, taking his first-quarter tally to 9 points. Fournier came on in the second quarter and connected with Alec Peters, who drilled one from beyond the arc to extend Olympiacos’s lead to double digits (15-26).
The Reds never looked back.
They shared the ball well, getting everyone involved in the game and ending the first half with as many as 13 assists, as all 10 players who stepped onto the floor got their names on the scoreboard.
Bayern didn’t give up, but its comeback attempts were absorbed by the visitors, who kept their calm and established a comfortable lead. Olympiacos registered a total of 25 dishes, with 10 players recording at least 1 assist each and seven netting at least 7 points apiece.
“It was a basketball clinic,” Bayern head coach Gordon Herbert admitted in the post-game press conference. “The way they moved the ball, the way they ran the fast-break.”
Georgios Bartzokas also praised his team’s effort, noting that Olympiacos pulled off a solid two-way outing in Munich.
“We were really solid defensively and offensively,” he told EuroLeague TV. “This time we had all our roster except Kostas Papanikolaou, our captain. We had better playmaking. We had the patience to share the ball and find the open man. Of course we have a very good offensive team, scoring almost 100 points every game. But also we were really solid defensively.”
In fact, Olympiacos held Bayern to just 71 points, forcing the hosts to commit as many as 18 turnovers. The guests bagged 12 steals, tightening up their defense whenever Bayern fought back to trim the deficit down to single digits.
“We kept them to 71 points,” Vezenkov told EuroLeague TV. “I think this was our biggest accomplishment. We said before the game that we had to play defense, [because] until now we didn’t. We did a great job and on offense we shared the ball, [scoring] 96 points.”
In his best performance so far in the famous red-and-white jersey, Donta Hall managed season highs in points (11), rebounds (8), offensive boards (6), assists (2) and PIR (25). More importantly, he brought in his contagious energy on both ends of the floor.
“We had to come here and bounce back from last week,” he said when interviewed by EuroLeague TV. “We came here with our heads on. Brought in the energy, brought in the fight and we got the result.”
Having improved its record to 4-2, Olympiacos will next take on AS Monaco in a rematch of last season’s Final Four semifinal. The Reds will look to protect their home court after losing to Anadolu Efes Istanbul at the Peace and Friendship Stadium last time out. And should they remain locked in on both ends, they have nothing to worry about.
