Name: Sylvain Francisco: 'We fixed what we're supposed to do'
Channel: Euroleague Basketball

Zalgiris Kaunas guard Sylvain Francisco spoke to EuroLeague TV after his team beat Virtus Bologna in Round 21 of the 2024-25 EuroLeague season.

Sylvain Francisco: 'We fixed what we're supposed to do'

Zalgiris Kaunas guard Sylvain Francisco spoke to EuroLeague TV after his team beat Virtus Segafredo Bologna in Round 21 of the 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season.

Zalgiris Kaunas v Virtus Segafredo Bologna (2025-01-15T18:00:00.000Z)

Zalgiris Kaunas-Virtus Segafredo Bologna | RS Round 21 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague

Aris Midea Thessaloniki-Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse | Round 15 Highlights | 2024-25 BKT EuroCup   

Aris Midea Thessaloniki v Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse (2025-01-15T18:00:00.000Z)

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica outscored Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv 10-1 in the final minute to complete a comeback from a 13-point deficit to win 84-83 at Moraca

Buducnost rallies past Hapoel, 84-83

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica outscored Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv 10-1 in the final minute to complete a comeback from a 13-point deficit to win 84-83 at Moraca. The victory raised Buducnost’s record to 7-8 and put it in sixth place in Group A, while Hapoel fell to fourth place with a 9-6 record. Despite the loss, Hapoel clinched a ticket to the postseason.

Rasheed Sulaimon paced the winners with 19 points, Nikola Tanaskovic contributed 14 and McKinley Wright added 11 points and 6 assists. Alen Omic tallied 4 points and 9 rebounds and in doing so moved past Jamar Smith (1,396) and into fourth place on the EuroCup’s all-time scoring charts with 1,399 points.

Bruno Caboclo paced the Hapoel attack with 16 points, Tomer Ginat tallied 15 points and 7 rebounds, Johnathan Motley also scored 15 and Yam Madar had 11 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in defeat.

Game Videos

Hapoel started strong with a Madar jumper and a Ginat triple only to see Buducnost answer with a Sulaimon layup and a three by Wright. The visitors quickly regained the lead through Motley and Ish Wainright, whose second three of the game made it 9-13. Motley added to the lead with 5 straight points in the paint. Sulaimon scored twice in transition and Tanaskovic heated up with 5 points to trim the gap to 18-20. Dordije Jovanovic’s dunk briefly tied that game at 22-22, but Caboclo responded with a triple seconds later. Omic scored his historic basket and Joe Ragland’s layup made it 24-27 after 10 minutes.

Tanaskovic buried another three early in the second quarter and Fletcher Magee followed from deep to give Buducnost the lead. The Buducnost defense held Hapoel scoreless for more than three minutes and Omic’s tip-in made it 34-30. Caboclo ended the Hapoel drought and, after Tanaskovic free throws, Bar Timor made it a 1-point game with a triple. After a Buducnost timeout, threes by Jovanovic and Sulaimon made it 42-37. Marcus Foster and Oz Blayzer revived the visitors and Motley put Hapoel back on top with free throws. Tanaskovic scored on the offensive glass before Joe Ragland beat the halftime buzzer to give Hapoel a 49-50 advantage.

Game News

Caboclo and Wainright ignited a 0-11 run early in the second half. Ginat and Madar also contributed as Hapoel made it 51-61. Yogi Ferell tried to get Buducnost back on track and Juwan Morgan added free throws, but Madar and Ginat kept Hapoel on track. A floater by Ferrell drew Buducnost within 60-67 at the end of the third quarter.

Caboclo restored a double-digit lead to open the fourth quarter and restore a double-digit Hapoel lead. A minute later, Madar connected from deep to push the margin to 13. It took more than 3 minutes before Sulaimon scored Buducnost’s first points of the fourth quarter. A three by Morgan and floater by Wright gave Buducnost hope at 69-75 and prompted a Hapoel timeout. After sitting for the last quarter and a half, Motley returned to the game and sank a mid-range jumper. Ginat’s fourth three of the game made it 71-80. Sulaimon answered with a three, but he and Fletcher both missed on the ensuing possession as the clock started to play a factor. Madar added points from the line and Wainright denied Morgan at the rim, but Buducnost fought on. A three by Fletcher and basket by Wright made it 79-82 with 18.5 seconds left. After Madar split free throws, Sulaimon got Buducnost within 2. With 11.5 seconds to play, Wainright missed 2 free throws and Patrick Beverley then fouled Fletcher, who was shooting a three, with 4.4 seconds left. Fletcher made all 3 free throws and Marcus Foster missed for Hapoel at the buzzer.

Despite the loss, Hapoel clinched a postseason berth

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica v Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv (2025-01-15T18:00:00.000Z)

Juwan Morgan seemed on his way to an easy score before Ish Wainright stopped him from behind

Wainright saves the day with rejection! Magic Moment

Pushing on a fast break, Best connects with Johnson for an alley-oop dunk.

Trefl’s fastbreak alley-oop! Magic Moment

 Pushing on a fast break, Best connects with Johnson for an alley-oop dunk.

Trefl Sopot v Bahcesehir College Istanbul (2025-01-15T18:00:00.000Z)

Simpson shows amazing dribbling skills to make his defender surrender

Zimpson dances and scores! Magic Moment

 Simpson shows amazing dribbling skills to make his defender surrender

Umana Reyer Venice v U-BT Cluj-Napoca (2025-01-15T19:00:00.000Z)

Turk Telekom Ankara-Veolia Towers Hamburg | Round 15 Highlights | 2024-25 BKT EuroCup   

Turk Telekom Ankara v Veolia Towers Hamburg (2025-01-15T16:30:00.000Z)

Isaia Cordinier finds Toko Shengelia in transition, with the Georgian dunking on Laurynas Birutis.

 Shengelia dunks on Birutis! Motorola Magic Moment

 Isaia Cordinier finds Toko Shengelia in transition, with the Georgian dunking on Laurynas Birutis.

Turk Telekom Ankara remained firmly on course to reach the BTK EuroCup playoffs with a hard-fought 77-65 home win over Veolia Towers Hamburg in Group B, improving to 9-6 while the German side dropped to 3-12 

Turk Telekom retains playoff hopes with 77-65 win over Hamburg

Turk Telekom Ankara remained firmly on course to reach the BTK EuroCup playoffs with a hard-fought 77-65 home win over Veolia Towers Hamburg in Group B, improving to 9-6 while the German side dropped to 3-12 and lost all hopes of advancing into the business end of the competition.

Anthony Brown paced Turk Telekom with 18 points, Yoan Makoundou added 16 to go with 6 boards while Kenneth Smith racked up 10 points and 7 assists for the home team. At the other end, Jordan Barnett netted 18 points and Kur Kuath registered a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Turk Telekom gained the upper hand from the start and soon carved out a 16-9 lead on the back of fast-paced offense, combined with strong defense which denied Hamburg open looks and forced the visitors out of the paint.

The Turkish side then raced clear, 28-13, as its big men Makoundou and Kyle Alexander dominated at both ends of the floor while the backcourt unit kept sinking shots from mid-range and downtown.

Hamburg was unable to cope with Turk Telekom’s torrid pace, which saw Smith and Alexander light up the contest with several spectacular alley-oops which had a vocal home crowd on its feet.

The hosts engineered a commanding 46-31 lead at halftime, with the versatile Makoundou leading the way on 12 points, while livewire Brown added 8. Alexander and Ismet Akpinar chipped in with 6 points apiece and Smith dished out as many assists to underline Turk Telekom’s smooth team effort which put the home side firmly in the driving seat. 

The Turkish team appeared to lose some of its momentum early in the third quarter and allowed Hamburg to conjure a 2-8 run which slashed the deficit to 48-39, as Jaizec Lottie hit a deep three for the visitors midway through the third quarter.

They closed the gap to 50-44 moments later and forced the home team’ head coach Erdem Can to call a timeout, with Turk Telekom’s offense grinding to a screeching halt. The Turkish side responded with a lightning 7-0 run as Brown sank one from downtown to stretch the lead back to double figures. Not for long though, as Hamburg then netted 6 unanswered points to reduce Turk Telekom’s lead to 57-50 heading into the final 10 minutes.

A corner three from Smith followed by Olivier Hanlan’s mid-range jumper made it 64-50 early in the fourth and although Hamburg fought hard to stay in touch, Smith drained another three from way downtown to keep the hosts in control, 69-55.

There was one last roar from Hamburg as it closed in to 70-65 with 1:28 minutes left on the clock before a pair of free throws by Makoundou followed by a spot-up three from Brown put the game beyond the German team’s reach.

“Hamburg was under no pressure and our biggest problem was the offensive rebounds, as we gave them too may,” Can said in his postgame comments. “We stayed together and were smart on offense, but our defense was the key.”

Hamburg won the battle of the boards 48-39 having collected a staggering 21 offensive rebounds but the visitors were ultimately undone by their own dreadful long-range shooting, having sank a mere 4 of 34 from deep while Turk Telekom made 8 of 25.

With three rounds to go in the regular season, the Turkish side stayed on course to advance 

Arnas Butkevicius blocks Alessandro Pajola on one end, then drains a three down the other.

Butkevicius does it at both ends! Motorola Magic Moment

Tai Odiase works his way to the basket, but Darious Moten comes from the weak side to deny him with a big swat.

Moten denies Odiase! Magic Moment

Marco Belinelli uses his vision by guiding Daniel Hackett’s pass to Momo Diouf, who has the easy dunk.

Belinelli turns playmaker! Motorola Magic Moment

Arnas Butkevicius drains a three from the parking lot!

Butkevicius shows his range! Motorola Magic Moment

Yoan Makoundou once again gets airborne to bend the rim!

Smith and Makoundou combine! Magic Moment

Kyle Alexander leaps sky high to flush it down the rim!

Alexander on the alley oop! Magic Moment

Yoan Makoundou rocks the rim after flying in out of nowhere!

Makoundou gets airborne to hammer it home! Magic Moment

The man who flipped the script for Olympiacos BC to beat Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in Round 21 of the EuroLeague was Evan Fournier.

 Evan Fournier led with words and actions to keep Olympiacos top of the standings

Studies have shown that there are several kinds of leadership and different types of leaders. In basketball, you may encounter two certain types: those who lead by example through their actions and those who earn the respect of their teammates by being vocal on the floor. Well, [Evan Fournier](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/evan-fournier/013380/) might well be one of the unicorns who fall into both categories.

Taking into account his illustrious career, Fournier may have nothing to prove on the court at the age of 32. Yet, on [Tuesday night at Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/news/olympiacos-wins-overtime-thriller-at-baskonia-101-102/), the Frenchman showed that [Olympiacos Piraeus](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/teams/olympiacos-piraeus/oly/) may have discovered a rare species that particularly enjoys dealing with pressure.

On a night where Olympiacos struggled on defense due to the absence of key guard [Thomas Walkup](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/thomas-walkup/008855/), [Nigel Williams-Goss](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/nigel-williams-goss/007982/) and [Shaquielle McKissic](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/shaquielle-mckissic/007853/) stepped up big time when their team needed them most. The former recorded a season-high 19 points to go with career highs of 8 assists and 28 PIR. The latter shot 8 for 11 from the field and scored 22 points.

Evan Fournier poured in 22 points against Baskonia

But the man who flipped the script for the visitors was none other than Fournier. A 0-8 surge to close the third quarter brought Olympiacos within 69-67 heading into the fourth. Yet, [Luka Samanic](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/luka-samanic/007579/) hit the ground running in the closing period, scoring 9 of his team’s first 11 points to restore an 81-75 cushion despite Olympiacos’s attempts to bounce back.

Enter Fournier, who led his team both vocally and by example. “It was about around the six-minute mark \[when\] Evan came up to us and said ‘it’s time to be leaders’ and for some reason that really resonated with us,” McKissic told EuroLeague TV after the game. “It was down 6 and at that point, I think the tides turned, we really started to believe and he came out and hit some incredible shots. Man, that was a good win.”

<center>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="qme" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WEMOVE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WEMOVE</a> <a href="https://t.co/t0CzkfjoxJ">pic.twitter.com/t0CzkfjoxJ</a></p>&mdash; Evan Fournier (@EvanFourmizz) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanFourmizz/status/1879306489678217653?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Following a timeout, Olympiacos struggled to circulate the ball on offense before Fournier asked for it with just 5 seconds left on the clock. The experienced forward created some space for himself and unleashed one from way deep to bring Olympiacos within 81-78. 

Baskonia wouldn’t give up, with back-to-back baskets from Samanic and [Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/timothe-luwawu-cabarrot/012080/) giving them an 85-78 cushion. But [Nikola Milutinov](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/players/nikola-milutinov/003941/) scored inside before Fournier nailed his sixth triple of the night, cutting the deficit to 85-83. The switch had been flipped. 

Olympiacos may have needed overtime to down Baskonia, but the shift in morale had been achieved and a clear message had already been sent to and received by the hosts.

Despite this not being a dominant performance for the Reds, winning on nights like this is what builds the character of a title-contending team. And head coach [Georgios Bartzokas](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/teams/olympiacos-piraeus/oly/bartzokas-georgios/?season=E2024) is well aware of that.

“We consider this as one of the most important wins in the season,” he said in the post-game press conference. “We are still first in the rankings, we won the last four out of five games on the road and especially tonight where we didn’t have our best night.”

Having improved its record to 15-6, Olympiacos heads to the Spanish capital to take on [Real Madrid](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/teams/real-madrid/roster/mad/?season=2024-25) as leader of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. The upcoming battle between the two powerhouses will see either Olympiacos or Real get their six-game winning streak snapped. A potential victory at Movistar Arena would send a strong message to the rest of the top-four spot contenders. And in Fournier, Olympiacos has the player who can convey that message through words and actions.

The Reds' forward demonstrated again that he thrives under pressure

Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz v Olympiacos Piraeus (2025-01-14T19:30:00.000Z)