Efes Pilsen put on a three-point shooting clinic 95-77

Efes Pilsen put on a three-point shooting clinic in a record-setting fourth quarter to storm back from an early double-digit deficit and hand Olympiacos its first loss of the season, 95-77 on Wednesday at the Abdi Ipekci arena in Istanbul. The home team buried 8 straight triples and 11 overall as it scored 39 points - a Euroleague record for points in a fourth quarter - to secure the win. In the whole game, Efes hit 17 of 30 three-point attempts. The result saw Efes snap a two-game losing streak and improve to 3-2 in Group A, while Olympiacos fell to 4-1. Drew Nicholas led the Efes charge, making 5-of-6 threes on the way to 20 points and 6 assists. Cuneyt Erden added 15 points, the same as Ermal Kuqo and Marcus Haislip, who also had 7 rebounds.Horace Jenkins returned to the lineup after a two-week absence for 12 points. Alex Acker led Olympiacos with 20 points and 10 rebounds, Andrija Zizic added 18 and 7 and former Efes Pilsen player Henry Domercant had 14. Scoonie Penn finished with 10 points and 4 assists for the Reds, who had led by as many as 16 points in the first half.

Although Efes took early leads as Haislip started the scoring and Akyol hit is first triple, Olympiacos soon had success with pick-and-rolls. Zizic scored three times in succession for the visitors first lead, 5-6. Domercant unloaded a triple and Acker a jumper to make it 5-11 before Zizic added his fourth basket in barely 4 minutes. Efes tried to stay in the game with three-pointers, of which Nicholas hit a pair, but Acker and Zizic were not being stopped. Zizic's fifth layup supplied the Reds with a 12-21 lead before Nicholas's second triple and late free throws by Kerem Gonlum left an 18-25 score after 10 minutes.

Domercant pumped in another triple to open the second quarter with Olympiacos enjoying a double-digit lead, 18-28. Efes countered with inside points from Gonlum and Ermal Kuqo but the quick passing game of the Reds kept the hosts from catching up, as did another triple, by Panagiotis Vassilopoulos. Horace Jenkins, who had missed the previous two games, made a surprise entrance for Efes, but Olympiacos kept rolling as Domercant canned his third shot from the arc to make it a 15-point game, 29-44. But whatever Efes did, Olympiacos seemed to stay ahead as Zizic made free throws and Acker another jumper to make it 32-48, the highest lead yet for the visitors. Nicholas with a triple and Prkacin with a layup helped save the hosts with the last 5 points before halftime, but Olympiacos still led 37-48.

The hosts raised their level of defensive intensity in the third quarter, causing Olympiacos to struggle to score. Efes used pressure to try and catch its opponent. Haislip made a three-pointer and added a single free throw on the next possession to cut the difference to 47-53 midway through the period. Olympiacos players made some wrong decisions with the ball, allowing the hosts to keep chipping away. Kuqo's layup over Sofoklis Schortsanidis made the score 53-58. Penn made a layup with 18 seconds left in the period, giving Olympiacos 12 for the period, but Erden's triple finished the third quarter with Efes within 56-60.

Just 15 seconds into the last period, Erden hit another three-pointer to reduce the difference to a single point. A minute later Kuqo drilled a three to level the game at 62-62. Efes took its first lead on a Jenkins three and with the momentum with the home team, funny things started to happen. Kuqo attempted an alley-oop pass to Haislip, but the ball dropped into the basket without touching him for 3 points that made the score 69–64. Then Jenkins, Erden, Haislip and Jenkins again shocked Olympiacos from beyond the arc to extend the lead to 82–70 with five minutes remaining. The visitors were committing turnovers and missing open shots, helping Efes cement its control. Erden hit 2 more three-pointers and Nicholas added another for the 11th three-pointer of the quarter to seal the win. Olympiacos, which had trouble on both ends of the floor in the final period, could only watch quietly as Nicholas sealed the scoring from the line to give Efes the 95–77 victory.