A pause in Berlin …
Olympiacos was removed from their usual standards in Berlin and lost to Alba 75-90 for the 29th day of the Euroleague.
The hosts got to lead by 5 at 6’ (11-6), however, with good defense, Moustapha Fall dominating the post and Sasha Vezenkov executing from the perimeter, Olympiacos ‘replied’ with an 8-0 streak and came ahead in the score for the first time (11-14). Hassan Martin continued doing an excellent job in both posts and the ‘reds’ consistently remained in the driver’s seat (22-26) up until 15’. But they did not continue the same way… Bad decisions in the offense and defensive gaps, allowed the German team to find rhythm and with a partial 15-4 they got to close the first half at +7 (37-30).
In the second half, Giorgos Bartzokas re-introduced the starting five on the floor (Walkup, Dorsey, Papanikolaou, Vezenkov, Fall) and Olympiacos ran a partial 10-2 that turned the tables (39-40). But it was somewhere at that point that our team hit the breaks… Inefficient ball movement and wrong choices when attacking, resulted in Alba once hitting back and building a +9 margin (55-46) at 28’. With Vezenkov and Martin leading the offense, Olympiacos closed in at 4p. (70-66 at 36’), however, it was Alba that had the final word… Relying on excellent shooting percentages, the German team responded with a 15-3 partial score, sent the difference to +16 (85-69) and practically decided the win.
The quarters: 16-17, 37-30, 57-51, 90-75.
