2018-19Regular SeasonRound 9
Olympiacos Piraeus 88
Real Madrid 83
November 22, 2018 CET: 19:45
Local time: 20:45 PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM

Olympiacos sends champs to first defeat

There is only one undefeated team left in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague after Olympiacos Piraeus held off defending champion Real Madrid 88-83 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Thursday night. Olympiacos registered its second consecutive win to improve to 5-4, while Madrid suffered its first loss of the season, dropping to 8-1. Nigel Williams-Goss paced Olympiacos with 23 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, while Vassilis Spanoulis netted 20 points in the victory. Jaycee Carroll scored 16 points and Facundo Campazzo had 14 points and a career-high 13 assists for Madrid, which played without Sergio Llull once again.

Olympiacos made the first blow, with Williams-Goss hitting a triple and Spanoulis and Georgios Printezis fueling an 11-0 run to make it 13-7. Spanoulis and Ioannis Papapetrou each added a triple to the tally, but Rudy Fernandez hit twice from long range and Jeffrey Taylor had a three on the other end. A runner from Williams-Goss made it 29-22 after 10 minutes. Carroll hit one triple and Fernandez another one to tie it at 32-32. Olympiacos answered through Spanoulis, who hit three times from downtown in less than 50 seconds. Goss had 5 more points, including a second- chance triple to make it 48-36. The hosts took a 52-41 lead into halftime. Campazzo, Gabriel Deck and Carroll each scored a three-pointer in the opening two minutes of the second half as Madrid got within 55-52. Strelnieks hit from downtown for the Reds and LeDay scored inside, but Carroll hit from long range and Tavares, Trey Thompkins and Taylor from close range, tying the contest at 63-63. The score remained tied at 65-65 going into the fourth quarter, but the hosts did not allow a single field goal for more than five minutes while Strelnieks scored 7 points, including a triple. A three-point play from LeDay opened a 76-68 margin, and with Olympiacos keeping Madrid scoreless from the floor, a three-pointer from Spanoulis made it 80-70 with 2:44 to go. Campazzo ended Madrid's field goal drought and Randolph hit a three-pointer, helping the visitors cut within 82-78 going into the last minute. Deck missed a pair of free throws and Olympiacos made a defensive stand that allowed it to preserve the victory.

The streak ends

Real Madrid saw its 13-game winning streak snapped with this loss at the Peace and Friendship Stadium. The last time Madrid lost in the EuroLeague was just 25 kilometers further north, in Game 1 of the EuroLeague Playoffs against Panathinaikos Athens last season.

Game-changing sequence

The two teams were tied at the end of the third quarter, but Olympiacos did not allow a single field goal for 7 minutes and 50 seconds to open the final quarter. During that span it made a 15-5 run to open an 80-70 lead it never relinquished.

Movers and shakers

Janis Strelnieks scored 7 points in the key stretch of the fourth quarter and finished with 15 points. Zach LeDay scored 12 and Nikola Milutinov was everywhere collecting 8 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 assists and 2 steals. Rudy Fernandez netted 12 points for Madrid, Anthony Randolph had 9 points and 9 rebounds, while Walter Tavares had 7 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks.

Did you notice?

Each team had 10 offensive and 30 defensive rebounds in this game. Olympiacos and Madrid had 4 blocks apiece, each committed 22 personal fouls, and Madrid had a PIR of 94, while Olympiacos's was 93.

Next game

Next week in Round 10, Madrid welcomes CSKA Moscow on Thursday, while Olympiacos stays at home and hosts Buducnost Voli Podgorica a day later.

Nigel Williams-Goss - Olympiacos Piraeus - EB18
Thursday, November 22, 2018
Euroleague.net
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; LATISEVS, OLEGS; MAJKIC, MARIO
Attendance: 9149
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus29231323
Real Madrid22192418
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus29526588
Real Madrid22416583
Olympiacos Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 WILLIAMS-GOSS, NIGEL 31:47 23 4/10 2/4 9/10   6 6 4   2     2 5 25
4 TOLIOPOULOS, VASSILIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 22:16 20 2/4 5/6 1/3   3 3 3 1 4   1 4 5 18
10 TIMMA, JANIS 11:53   0/2             1 1   1     -3
11 MILUTINOV, NIKOLA 28:05 8 3/5   2/2 3 6 9 3 2   3     2 25
13 STRELNIEKS, JANIS 27:21 15 3/4 2/4 3/3   2 2 2 1 3     5 2 11
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 25:09 7 3/10 0/2 1/4   4 4 1       2 2 3 -1
16 PAPANIKOLAOU, KOSTAS 15:35 3 0/1 1/2     3 3 1   1     4    
17 MANTZARIS, VANGELIS 11:18     0/1   1   1           2   -2
31 BOGRIS, GEORGIOS 3:16         2   2 1   1         2
32 LEDAY, ZACH 23:20 12 3/5 1/2 3/6 1 4 5   1 1 1   3 4 13
Team           3 2 5               5
Totals 200:00 88 18/41 11/21 19/28 10 30 40 15 6 13 4 4 22 21 93
        43.9% 52.4% 67.9%
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
Real Madrid
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 CAUSEUR, FABIEN 9:34   0/1 0/1             1   1 1 1 -4
3 RANDOLPH, ANTHONY 24:59 9 1/6 2/4 1/2 2 7 9 1   2     2 4 11
5 FERNANDEZ, RUDY 16:02 12 1/2 3/5 1/2       1 3       1 1 12
7 CAMPAZZO, FACUNDO 31:13 14 3/4 1/6 5/6   2 2 13 2 5     3 8 24
9 REYES, FELIPE 5:56 2 0/1   2/2   1 1           1 1 2
16 YUSTA, SANTI DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 CARROLL, JAYCEE 20:33 16 2/5 4/7     3 3 1       1 4   9
22 TAVARES, WALTER 26:48 7 3/5   1/2 3 7 10 1 1 1 4   3 1 17
24 DECK, GABRIEL 21:23 7 2/4 1/1 0/2 1 3 4 1         1 1 8
25 PREPELIC, KLEMEN 9:53 3 0/2 1/4     3 3 3   1   1 1 1 2
33 THOMPKINS, TREY 16:58 8 3/4 0/3 2/2 1 4 5   1       1 3 12
44 TAYLOR, JEFFERY 16:41 5 1/3 1/1   1   1     1   1 4 1 -1
Team           2   2               2
Totals 200:00 83 16/37 13/32 12/18 10 30 40 21 7 11 4 4 22 22 94
        43.2% 40.6% 66.7%
Head coach: LASO, PABLO

Head Coaches

BLATT, DAVID
Olympiacos Piraeus
"This says, number one, that we came to play. We had very tough game on Tuesday night at Bayern that we had to win. Sometimes, the natural response is to let down a little bit. We lost a home game last week, tough tough game against a great team, Fenerbahce. We needed to get this win for our record and for our chances moving forward. I am so proud of our guys for the way they approached the game, and in two days what we were able to do against two very good teams."
LASO, PABLO
Real Madrid
"Congratulation to Olympiacos on the victory. It was two games in one. In the first half we made a lot of mistakes defensively and offensively and they had a lot of advantage. Williams-Goss and Spanoulis killed us, they both had 16 points in the first half, and we were doing a lot of mistakes on both ends of the court. Olympiacos had total control of the game. I think our second half was much better, defensively and also offensively. We got open jumpers, we missed some, and missed some free throws, but at the end we had a feeling we were in the game. Somehow, I have a feeling we were late for the game. They dominated in the beginning and had that advantage, and that was for me crucial in their win. It is true we were missing important players, bur for me that's not an excuse. We had other players step up. Olympiacos is a great team, very competitive, with a great coach and great players, and I have respect for them."

Players

SPANOULIS, VASSILIS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"It makes me feel nice to help my team win. You can have good nights and bad nights, but you have to be there every day to practice hard and to look for the next one. We had two big wins this week, came back after some losses in the EuroLeague and in the Greek League. Now we are good, and we have to work hard, because it is still very early in the season. We have work to be ready for the upcoming months. This gives us more confidence, for sure. Not many teams will beat Real Madrid. They are a great team, they were undefeated, and hopefully we manage to take this win to get a better position in the standings."
WILLIAMS-GOSS, NIGEL
Olympiacos Piraeus
"I put a lot of work in, before and after practice every day. I am just glad I was able to contribute in any way I can to help the team win. This is a big win for us as a team. We have high expectations for ourselves every game. We come out every game expecting to win. The start of the season was not exactly how we wanted it to, but we try to step on the floor every night and get a W."
FERNANDEZ, RUDY
Real Madrid
"We changed the game in the second half, showed a different face and had a chance to win the game. We paid a high price for our bad first half. We made good choices in the final plays, taking open shots that didn't go in. We take the positive things from this game; we fought back in the second half. We missed free throws, but so did they. The first half decided the game; we cannot allow a team that doesn't score so much in the EuroLeague to get 52 points against us. The good thing about this team is that all 16 players are available for our coach and everybody is ready to take a step forwards. Some players get injured, others cannot play, but we always have to be ready when Pablo [Laso] calls us."
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