The EuroLeague pace-setter brushed aside Partizan ahead of a titanic clash with its eternal rival
Olympiacos steamrolled Partizan with one eye on the Greek derby
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Regular Season
Round 28 of 34
Group Regular Season
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The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague regular season is heading into the home stretch and leader Olympiacos Piraeus kept its stranglehold on pole position with a comfortable 82-70 home win over Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade in a one-sided contest.
It was a fifth win in a row for Olympiacos, which also made it 12 out of the last 13 as the Greek giant rolled on in Europe’s premier club competition ahead of next week’s mouth-watering clash with reigning champion Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens.
It does not get any bigger than that, and the fierce rivalry between the neighboring clubs is set to produce another epic chapter, with Olympiacos having home-court advantage at the Peace and Friendship Stadium just days after celebrating the club’s milestone 100th anniversary on March 10.
The game against Partizan provided for a perfect dress rehearsal as Olympiacos stifled out one of the competition’s most potent offensive teams on the back of ironclad defense, having led by as many as 20 points in the second half.
Among a pack of rock-solid Olympiacos performers, big man Nikola Milutinov was named player of the game after racking up 10 points and 9 boards, shooting 5 of 7 from the floor as he dominated the paint at both ends of the floor against his former club.
“I am just delighted we won,” Milutinov said in his postgame comments. “One more win and we’re just trying to improve our game all the time. We want to keep our EuroLeague streak going and today we put in a good overall performance.”
Coach Georgios Bartzokas praised a festive atmosphere inside the Peace and Friendship Stadium, where the home team’s red-and-white army roared Olympiacos on from start to finish.
The home faithful, who nurture brethren relations with Partizan’s bitter city foe Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, came up with sporadic good-natured taunts as they mixed their own songs with some of Zvezda’s favorite lyrics to galvanize Olympiacos.
“I am very appreciative of the atmosphere as it shows what a huge club we are,” Bartzokas said. “If we hadn’t missed some open shots with great shooters like [Sasha] Vezenkov and [Evan] Fournier in our ranks, we might have had more than 30 assists tonight but we still beat a very strong opponent."
Olympiacos dished out 25 assists and racked up 33 points, with Sasha Vezenkov pacing the hosts on 17 points although he was a modest 1 of 6 from downtown, using his trademark movement off the ball to devastating effect as he scored a barrage of easy backdoor points.
Vezenkov, who received the EuroLeague’s January MVP award prior to the game, was also looking forward to the clash with Panathinaikos and a personal matchup against last month’s MVP Kendrick Nunn, with the two players continuously heaping praise on each other this season.
Vezenkov also acknowledged the game was bound to produce a titanic tussle after Panathinaikos edged Olympiacos 79-75 in the Greek Cup final a fortnight ago, rubbing salt into the country’s national champions again after Olympiacos claimed the Greek league title last season.
“It was very important for us to win this one [against Partizan] and mark the club’s anniversary, 100 years of history for the fans and the family,” said Vezenkov. “Except for the last five minutes, we played great defense and now we’ve got to keep going.
“Like I said many times, [Nunn] is a great player and a great person. We both want to win the EuroLeague trophy for our respective clubs and we now we have to shift our focus on to them because they are coming for us next Friday. They won the [Greek] Cup so we need this game.”