The message of the qualification was sent quickly by Olympiakos, which with Spanoulis and their super Mantzaris and Milutinov easily cleared Efes with 87-72 and scored 1-0 in the series.
The Greek champions entered the quarterfinals of the Euroleague with their right hand, as they showed their teeth to Anantolou Efes and left no room for her to threaten them. Piraeus defeated the team Velimir Perasovic and on Friday (21/4) they meet their friends for the second step of qualifying for the Final Four of the Euroleague.
Efes at the beginning of the match seemed to lead the game at a fast pace, but Olympiakos based on its defense led 8-5 at 4 ′, while with two three-pointers by Mantzaris they escaped 14-7 at 8 ′. The Turks reduced to 15-11 with Kirk, but the corridors to the basket of Olympiakos remained closed with the hosts leading 18-11.
The guests tried to react, but the second act belonged to the hosts. Waters with 6 consecutive points led his team to 14 ′ for the first time at +10 (29-19), while then the baton passed to Green for 38-25 and 42-28, with Hertel still writing 42-31, a score with which the teams went to the locker room.
Spanoulis, in terms of the executive sector, returned transformed for the better in the third period and together with Printezis they wrote 55-37 in 25 ′. Granger and Hertel tried to give the… kiss of life to their team, but Giannis Sfeiropoulos was constantly pulling hidden aces up his sleeve. The difference reached 18 points (67-49. 29 ′), while in 30 ′ Piraeus was ahead 67-50.
Paul and Thomas at the beginning of the fourth period (31 ′) reduced the difference to 11 points (67-57), a fact that led Giannis Sfairopoulos to call a time out. Green behind the line of 6.75 meters stopped the series of the Turks, but Granger and Haneikat wrote the 70-60 (32 ′).
Agravanis and Birch answered for 74-60 (34 ′), while in the 35th Spanoulis scored 76-62 and then served Birch for 78-62. Mantzaris and Milutinov put the icing on the cake for 85-64 (37 ′), while the sound of the final horn found the Olympic winner 87-72.
Source: SigmaLive