The Reds finished the game on a tear to win after trailing for most of the night
Sasha Vezenkov, Olympiacos 'stole' victory from Maccabi
Отчеты о матчах
3 Минутное чтение
Regular Season
Round 5 of 38
Regular Season
Maccabi Rapyd Tel AvivMTA
9495
Olympiacos PiraeusOLY
Overview
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One after another, Olympiacos Piraeus's best players and head coach echoed the same concept. They were happy to win this game despite not necessarily deserving the victory.
After trailing for most of the game, the Reds caught fire late by scoring 14 of the game's last 15 points to edge Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv 94-95 at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade. All-EuroLeague forward Sasha Vezenkov made 3 key free throws with 42.2 seconds remaining and then the go-ahead bucket with 17.4 on the clock.
The drama was such that Olympiacos head coach Georgios Bartzokas later quipped: "it's not a game for people who have heart problems."
The Reds still had to stop Lonnie Walker on the game's final possession and when he missed a tough would-be game winner, Olympiacos was able to celebrate its sixth consecutive victory over the Israeli side.
Celebrate, however, may be an overstatement as Vezenkov was quick to criticize his team in the post-game interview.
"We played terrible difference. They scored 94 points. We have a lot to improve. This win would be like a lie to us," the former MVP said before turning to the positives. "We made a great comeback the last 4 minutes, we found the right solutions, we played a little bit better defense. And as I said, it's better to learn by winning and not by losing."
Vezenkov finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double in five games this season. He made 6 of 7 two-pointers and was joined by co-star Nikola Milutinov in making sure Olympiacos dominated the paint. The center scored 23 on 8-of-9 shooting. Combined they helped the Reds make a whopping 74.3% of their two-point attempts.
Like Vezenkov, Milutinov made it clear that Olympiacos won a game that it didn't necessarily deserve to win.
"Let's be honest. We stole this game tonight. If Maccabi won, it will be completely deserved for them. We were not good, especially in defense, it's really bad how we played defensively. Receiving more than 90 points is too much, and we have to improve the part of our game," Milutinov said. "We have to fix it as soon as possible if we want to be contenders this year."
To be fair, Olympiacos did improve its defense late. The Reds closely contested most of their opponents' shots in the closing minutes when Maccabi missed 6 in a row.
Coach Georgios Bartzokas was so frustrated with his team's defensive effort that he walked out of a timeout in the fourth quarter. At the post-game press conference, he was able to put into perspective the situation his team is in with Thomas Walkup, Shaq McKissic and Evan Fournier all sidelined by injury.
"We miss our defensive stoppers. You know, just to be tougher on defense, because, as you see, the talent in offense we have. It's obvious that we could score 30 points to the last quarter, but we need to be tougher on defense. And I hope that with the players coming back, we're going to be … way better."
Maybe taking Bartzokas's final words into context, Olympiacos didn't exactly "steal" a victory as much as they showed character to battle for all 40 minutes and showed off their talent to come through late. In addition to Vezenkov and Milutinov, Tyler Dorsey stood out with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists and Tyson Ward dished a career-best 8 dimes.
An easier stretch is around the corner for Olympiacos. After travelling to face FC Bayern Munich next week, the Reds play four consecutive home games between Rounds 7 and 10. If they are about to truly get "way better" on the court, it's a great time to be an Olympiacos fan.
