2018-19Regular SeasonRound 30
Olympiacos Piraeus 99
Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul 74
April 05, 2019 CET: 20:30
Local time: 21:30 PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM

Olympiacos wins bittersweet season finale

Olympiacos Piraeus put a bittersweet end to its 2018-19 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season by downing Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul 99-74 at home on Friday. Olympiacos ended the regular season with a 15-15 record, tied with KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz and Zalgiris Kaunas, but finished ninth, one spot short of the playoffs, due to its tiebreak disadvantage with those teams. In the case of Zalgiris, the difference turned out to be one three-point shot. Darussafaka finished last among 16 teams with a 5-25 record. Nigel Williams-Goss led the winners with 18 points. Zach LeDay and Nikola Milutinov each added 16 points, Briante Weber 13, Kostas Papanikolaou and Georgios Printezis 11 each. Berk Demir led Darussafaka with 12 points. Jeremy Evans added 11 and Stanton Kidd 10 for the guests. Three-pointers by Muhammed Baygul, Kartal Ozmizrak and Kidd allowed Darussafaka to take a 20-28 margin after 10 minutes. The guests extended their margin to double digits, 24-35, but Milutinov and LeDay rescued Olympiacos and a layup by Axel Toupane gave the hosts a 45-44 edge at halftime. Williams-Goss took over after the break and Olympiacos improved its defense, which allowed the Reds to get a 75-56 margin after 30 minutes, enough to control the game until the final buzzer.

Michael Eric got Darussafaka going with a jump hook and a jumper, and a put-back layup by Toney Douglas gave the guests a 4-6 lead. Milutinov dunked and Weber added a step-back jumper but Eric and Kidd kept Darussafaka ahead, 8-13. Papanikolaou sank a jumper, igniting an 8-0 run that he capped with free throws for a 16-13 Olympiacos lead. Baygul and Ozmizrak each struck from downtown and back-to-back dunks by Evans restored a 17-23 Darussafaka margin. A layup by Oguz Savas and another triple by Kidd boosted the guests' margin to 20-28 after 10 minutes. Baygul hit a three-pointer early in the second quarter, Kidd added a jumper, and a fastbreak layup by Ozmizrak made it a double-digit game, 24-35. Weber took over with a three-point play, Printezis added a jump hook and a power layup by Milutinov gave Olympiacos hope at 31-37. Douglas scored in penetration and Demir hit a triple but LeDay and Printezis kept the hosts within 35-42. Olympiacos kept getting LeDay and Milutinov involved. Both big men lifted the hosts and Toupane added a driving layup that put Olympiacos in charge, 45-44, at halftime. LeDay and Eric traded baskets after the break, and a jump hook by Milutinov gave the hosts a 49-46 edge. Williams-Goss followed a jumper with a triple and a three-point play by Papanikolaou boosted Olympiacos's margin to double digits, 59-49. Ozmizrak and Evans nailed consecutive jumpers but Darussafaka only managed to trade baskets now. Olympiacos found a go-to guy in Williams-Goss, who had 7 points in a 12-0 run that broke the game open, 75-56, after 30 minutes. Nothing changed early in the fourth quarter, even when Darussafaka improved its offense with an all-Turkish lineup. Even with that, a bomb from downtown by Printezis made it a 24-point game, 83-62, with 7 minutes left. Nothing changed after that, as Olympiacos kept a comfortable lead until the final buzzer.

Pivotal performer

Williams-Goss scored 14 of his 18 points in the third quarter. He hit 3 of 5 two-point shots, 2 of 2 from downtown and 6 of 6 free throws, adding 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 fouls drawn for a PIR of 26.

Game-changing moment

Darussafaka led 35-44 near halftime but after that Olympiacos found easy options in the paint. Milutinov and LeDay led a 12-0 run highlighted by Axel Toupane's buzzer-beating layup right before halftime. By the time LeDay scored around the basket, Olympiacos led 47-44 soon after the break and took control until the final buzzer.

Stellar stat

It was Olympiacos's highest-scoring mark this season. It was one point away from reaching 100. The last time Olympiacos reached 100 points was in the 2013 EuroLeague Championship Game, beating Real Madrid 100-88.

Did you notice?

Olympiacos had a PIR of 127, its seventh-best in competition history. Olympiacos's club record is 141 and reached it twice, both times at home; in a 109-65 win against Prokom Trefl Sopot on November 21, 2007; and beating Union Olimpija 113-80 on December 19, 2007.

Agravanis finally returned

Dimitris Agravanis made his EuroLeague season debut with 5:15 left in the fourth quarter. Agravanis, who played two EuroLeague finals with Olympiacos in 2015 and 2017, stepped on a EuroLeague court for the first time since facing Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade on November 17, 2017. He had 3 points and a block.

Nigel Williams-Goss - Olympiacos Piraeus - EB18
Friday, April 5, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: JAVOR, DAMIR; PERUGA, CARLOS; HALLIKO, AARE
Attendance: 4136
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus20253024
Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul28161218
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus20457599
Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul28445674
Olympiacos Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 WEBER, BRIANTE 22:41 13 4/9   5/6   2 2 5   3   3 4 4 8
3 WILLIAMS-GOSS, NIGEL 26:18 18 3/5 2/2 6/6 2 2 4 6   3     2 5 26
6 TOUPANE, AXEL 15:48 4 1/2 0/1 2/2                 1 2 3
11 MILUTINOV, NIKOLA 24:17 16 7/11   2/2 4 2 6 3 3 1 1   1 3 26
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA 10:38 4 2/2       1 1     1         4
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 18:27 11 4/6 1/1     3 3 2   1     1 1 13
16 PAPANIKOLAOU, KOSTAS 25:56 11 2/2 1/2 4/5   4 4 3   3     1 4 16
17 MANTZARIS, VANGELIS 20:11 3 1/1 0/4 1/2   3 3   2 1     1 2 3
20 POKUSEVSKI, ALEKSEJ 5:00   0/2             1 1     1   -3
21 AGRAVANIS, DIMITRIS 5:15 3 1/1 0/1 1/2         2   1   2 1 3
31 BOGRIS, GEORGIOS 3:03   0/2                   1     -3
32 LEDAY, ZACH 22:26 16 3/4 0/1 10/10 2 4 6 1   1     1 5 24
Team           3 5 8     1         7
Totals 200:00 99 28/47 4/12 31/35 11 26 37 20 8 16 2 4 15 27 127
        59.6% 33.3% 88.6%
Head coach: BLATT, DAVID
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 OZMIZRAK, KARTAL 22:53 8 2/4 1/4 1/2   2 2 3 1 2     3 3 6
5 BAYGUL, MUHAMMED 21:02 9 0/4 3/3   1 3 4 1         2 1 9
9 KOSUT, EMIRCAN 11:12 4 2/5     1 1 2 1 1 2 1   5   -1
10 DEMIR, BERK 19:46 12 3/3 1/1 3/4 1 1 2   1 2 1   2 2 13
11 KIDD, STANTON 23:01 10 2/4 2/4   1   1 1 1       2 1 8
18 OZDEMIROGLU, DOGUS 18:31   0/1 0/4                   3 1 -7
21 SAVAS, OGUZ 16:09 5 2/4   1/2 1 3 4 3   3   2 3 2 3
23 DOUGLAS, TONEY 18:21 6 3/6 0/2   1 1 2 4 1 4     1   3
31 PEINERS, ZANIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
33 DIEBLER, JON 19:28     0/2     1 1 1 2 2     2 2  
40 EVANS, JEREMY 16:58 11 3/3 1/2 2/2 1 1 2 2 2 3 1   2 2 14
50 ERIC, MICHAEL 12:39 9 4/6   1/2 2   2 2     1   3 1 9
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 74 21/40 8/22 8/12 9 14 23 18 9 18 4 2 28 15 58
        52.5% 36.4% 66.7%
Head coach: ERNAK, SELCUK

Head Coaches

BLATT, DAVID
Olympiacos Piraeus
"First of all, I would like to say thank you to our fans, both the fans that came tonight to support in the way that they did, and to all of the Olympiacos fans that supported us all season. We are all very disappointed and very sad with the results and we hope that this experience will improve us in the future. It is not easy for anyone in the club to be in this situation but we have to know how to act and behave and go forward in a better way. Our guys came out to play hard tonight and took pride in themselves, in their team, and played a very good game. And that's the right way to act. We look forward to better days. At least, personally, and I believe on the part of our players and management, it was very moving and emotional the way that our fans supported us in what is a difficult time for the team. You pointed out correctly so the loss to Darussafaka early in the season, but there were more than one game that we were right there to win it and we didn't take care of business. We had a last shot to beat Fenerbahce here at home and we were unsuccessful. We were one play away from winning in Moscow, and we were unsuccessful. This past week against Zalgiris, it was a one- or two-play game, and we were unsuccessful. And I could probably think of another two or three games that had we made just a few more plays, we wouldn't be seating here talking like this. But we didn't, and that's why we are in this situation. And it is disappointing for us and for our fans, and I certainly understand them and still appreciate the way they treated the club tonight."
ERNAK, SELCUK
Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul
"First of all, unfortunately, that was the last game of the EuroLeague regular season for both teams this year. The competition, during the game, was not very satisfying, but both teams compete in really tough domestic leagues, so I wish my team and Olympiacos the best on their leagues for the rest of the season."

Players

WILLIAMS-GOSS, NIGEL
Olympiacos Piraeus
"Obviously, we are disappointed that we didn't make the playoffs. That was our goal from the beginning of the season, trying to get to the playoffs and trying to get to the Final Four. In that regard, it is kind of disappointing. For myself, I am just glad I was able to stay healthy. God gave me this opportunity to play at this level and for this club. I will try to have a good off-season and be ready for next year."
MILUTINOV, NIKOLA
Olympiacos Piraeus
"It is difficult to finish the season so early. We were so good two, three months ago. We were in a good position, but after that, we started to play bad, we were not ourselves and maybe in the end we didn't deserve to be in the playoffs. It is difficult and I don't know what to say in this moment, because we really had big hopes for this team in the beginning of the season. I feel so bad right now."
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