Olympiacos and FC Barcelona return to the pitch at the Peace and Friendship Arena in Piraeus for a key match 4. Win or go home for the hosts, first match point for the Catalans to gain a pass for the Final Four.
OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS QUINTET: Walkup, Canaan, Peters, Papanikolaou, Fall.
FC BARCELONA QUINTET: Rubio, Laprovittola, Parker, Kalinic, Vesely.
Super start for Barça. The Catalans approach this game 4 in the best possible way by playing solidly and riding a super Jan Vesely in this first part of the match. Olympiacos suffers from Barcelona’s strong start but in turn rides on a dominant Moustapha Fall. The Frenchman is practically the attack of the Greeks who, however, are at -5 halfway through the first quarter. Little was scored in the second half of the quarter but Olympiacos fought back with sheer grit and will. McKissic’s layup gives Olympiacos -2 at the end of the first quarter.
Great start in the second quarter for Olympiacos. The home team increased the pace, fought for every ball and, most importantly, set up a 7-0 lead to overtake. Clear difficulty for Barcelona who can no longer find the way to the basket and suffers from the athleticism and determination of the Larentzakis-Petrusev duo. It is the Greek guard who scores a triple with an unsportsmanlike foul by Abrines, an action worth 6 points. The Catalans’ crisis is increasingly serious, the Greek partial shows no signs of stopping, a total of 15-0 in favor of Olympiacos which reaches +13. McKissic is the author of a great second quarter, ending with 13 points, but he is the symbol of a rampant Olympiacos. Barcelona suffers, fails to react and is 16 points down at half-time.
The flow of the match doesn’t change in this second half. Super Olympiacos and Barça are in big trouble with the score reading over 20 points. Another 8-0 run for Olympiacos who flies and shows that in this game 4 there is no balance, as shown in the previous 3 games. Lots of errors in this third quarter, with Olympiacos still in a comfortable lead and Barça in clear confusion. Some trivial turnovers for the hosts, but the final quarter is the Kostas Papanikolaou show. The Olympiacos captain scores 3 consecutive triples for a devastating +25. Total domination for Olympiacos.
Olympiacos’ performance was incredible, especially the big men, who were dominant this evening. To understand the depth and quality of the Greeks’ performance, Wright did not enter the field after being one of the best, if not the best, in the previous game 3. The last quarter is pure garbage time, with Barcelona clearly out of this match and with my mind already on game 5 on Catalan soil. Dominant performance from Olympiacos which impacts the score at 2-2 and flies to Catalunya with morale at the highest and the desire to get another Final Four. Barcelona called to return to the levels of previous matches so as not to waste the good things they have shown so far, with the exception of this terrible match 4.
OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS – FC BARCELONA 92-58 (21-23, 32-14, 19-10, 20-11)
MVP BasketballInside: S. McKissic
OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS: McKissic 21, Fall 12, Canaan 11, Williams-Goss 11, Petrusev 10, Papanikolaou 9, Milutinov 8 (11 rebounds), Larentzakis 4, Peters 4, Mitrou-Long 2, Walkup.
FC BARCELONA: Parker 10, Vesely 9, Nnaji 6, Satoransky 6, Hernangomez 5, Laprovittola 5, Da Silva 4, Abrines 3, Brizuela 3, Rubio 3, Jokubaitis 2, Kalinic 2.
