Baskonia improved to 11-10 after a defensive-mined performance against a direct playoff rival.
Baskonia celebrated Coach Ivanovic's night in style
It was a special night for coach Dusko Ivanovic on Friday, a landmark occasion, as he coached his 750th game in all competitions for Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. His team provided the perfect gift for him, too, by pleasing him with a defensive-minded performance en route to an 80-69 win over the visiting Olympiacos Piraeus.
"Tonight we played really very, very good defense," Ivanovic said after the game.
Baskonia allowed 32 points in the first half and had held the visitors below 60 points until the final 4 minutes, when the hosts already held a 73-59 lead. On the night, Ivanovic's squad forced 17 turnovers while committing only 9.
"The entire team was really aggressive," noted Maik Kotsar, who had a career-high 5 steals. It just goes to show how aggressive everyone was."
Coach Ivanovic was also impressed with the performance of the Estonian big man, as he played a team-high 32 minutes and also collected 8 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists.
"Tonight, Maik was great against two big guys [Nikola Milutinov and Moustapha Fall], and also on offense. He did a great job," Ivanovic stated.
Another player who did a great job was Chima Moneke, who had 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block before he scored his first points with 4 minutes left in the first half. He finished with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
"It took me a while to get my legs going, but I am glad today was the day I could do other things on the court to help the team without scoring at the start, then I made some shots at the end," Moneke commented.
An eye on the playoffs
This win improved Baskonia to 11-10, and gave it a regular-season sweep of Olympiacos. However, not all is gravy, according to Moneke.
"I hope this starts a trend," he said, referring to the fact that this is only Baskonia's third double-digit win of the season.
"Point differential matters. We won most of our games but we are still in the negatives, which I don't like", Moneke explained.
"With how tight this EuroLeague season is, it is going to come down to every game and every point. Every basket matters, too."
Baskonia and Olympiacos are two of four teams, along with AS Monaco and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, sitting between seventh and 10th place, which all lead to play-in. It should be a thrilling end to the campaign, and Baskonia will surely be there or thereabouts.