2020-21Regular SeasonRound 33
Real Madrid 72
Olympiacos Piraeus 63
April 02, 2021 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 WIZINK CENTER

Real bounces back, downs Olympiacos

Real Madrid never trailed as it used the last home game of the regular season to improve its playoff chances and down already-eliminated Olympiacos Piraeus 72-63 on Friday night in the Spanish capital. Real holds a 19-14 record going into the regular season finale, while Olympiacos drops to 15-18 with one game to go. Real took control of the game from the start behind its defense, allowing just 11 first-quarter points and just 26 in the first half. The host built a double-digit lead behind Gabriel Deck and Walter Tavares, and the visitors never came closer than 8 points in the second half. Deck paced the winners with 18 points on 7-for-7 two-pointers, while Tavares finished with 15 points, 8 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks in the victory. Sasha Vezenkov netted 22 points as the only double-digits scorer for Olympiacos.


Real started strong and aggressive on defense, allowing just one basket, a second-chance layup from Georgios Printezis, in 6 minutes to open the game. Real also forced 3 turnovers in that span, while taking it to the rim on offense with Deck scoring three layups to open a 9-2 lead. The Reds scored a pair of fastbreak layups from Charles Jenkins and Vezenkov, but Nicolas Laprovittola had a triple and fadeway jumper to increase the margin to 18-8. Printezis answered with a three-point play, but Deck banked a last-second jumper to make it 20-11 after 10 minutes. Vezenkov and Alberto Abalde traded threes, but two easy buckets from Tavares opened 27-16. The Reds were not going away, with Vassilis Spanoulis taking it to the rim and Octavius Ellis scoring inside, but a transition triple and a second-chance floater from Jaycee Carroll kept Real's lead in double figures. Ellis had an alley-oop dunk and Spanoulis drove to the rim once again, but the hosts still took 36-26 into halftime.

Carlos Alocen opened a 13-point margin with a triple to start the third quarter. Kostas Sloukas had a long two and a three to cut it into single digits, before Jeffery Taylor and Trey Thompkins knocked down back-to-back triples to make it a 47-33 game midway through the third as Olympiacos was held without a basket for almost 4 minutes. Vezenkov scored 5 points before the end of the quarter, but Tavares netted twice inside to make it 53-38 after 30 minutes. Tavares made the margin 17 points, largest of the night, to open the fourth quarter, before Vezenkov and Giannoulis Larentzakis fueled a 2-8 run to get the visitors within 57-46. Tavares scored from close range again, and Rudy Fernandez made one from downtown, but Spanoulis and Vezenkov bagged back-to-back triples to make it 62-52. However, Abalde nailed a three, and Deck raced for a fastbreak dunk to restore a 15-point lead. A transition triple from Larentzakis got the Reds within 69-60 with 1:48 to go, but Deck scored on the ensuing possession to seal the deal.

Key contributor

Gabriel Deck set the tone early, and had 10 first-quarter points on the way to becoming Real's top scorer for the night with 18 points. By going 7-for-7 on two-point shooting, Deck also became the only Real player not named Walter Tavares with at least 7 made two-point shots in a single game this season.

Defensive effort

Real allowed 108 points earlier in the week in a loss against Anadolu Efes Istanbul, but stepped up on the defensive end and had no letdowns during this game, allowing just 63 points, tied for its third-fewest this season.

Reyes makes impact

Felipe Reyes made his third appearance of the season, but the first on home floor and the first as a 41-year old. The best offensive rebounder in EuroLeague history needed less than 25 seconds to get an offensive board, and collected 3 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal in 5 minutes on the floor in the second quarter, helping Real take a double-digit lead into the second half.

Head-coaching opportunity

A one-game suspension for Real Head Coach Pablo Laso allowed his long-time assistant Chus Mateo an opportunity to act in the senior role. Mateo previously coached Unicaja Malaga in the EuroLeague in the 2011-12 season.

Next week

In the final round of the regular season, Real will be in action on the road fighting for a place in the playoffs against Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul on Thursday, while Olympiacos will wrap up its season a day later when it welcomes Khimki Moscow Region.

Gabriel Deck - Real Madrid - EB20
Friday, April 2, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: RYZHYK, BORYS; NEDOVIC, MILAN; NIKOLIC, UROS
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Real Madrid20161719
Olympiacos Piraeus11151225
End of Quarter1234
Real Madrid20365372
Olympiacos Piraeus11263863
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 10:37 2   0/1 2/2       2         3 1 1
5 FERNANDEZ, RUDY 15:59 3   1/5     1 1 1   2         -1
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 15:22 6   2/3     3 3 4   1     2   9
8 LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS 8:48 7 2/2 1/2     1 1 1       1 2 1 6
9 REYES, FELIPE 5:01   0/1     2 1 3   1 2 1   1   1
12 ALOCEN, CARLOS 16:04 4 0/1 1/1 1/2   1 1     3     2 3 1
14 DECK, GABRIEL 33:30 18 7/7 0/2 4/4   5 5 2 1 2       6 28
16 GARUBA, USMAN 21:12 2 1/3 0/1   1 4 5 1 2 3 2       6
20 CARROLL, JAYCEE 13:40 9 2/2 1/4 2/2 1 2 3     1       5 13
22 TAVARES, WALTER 34:31 15 7/11   1/3 1 7 8 1 4 3 2 1 2 2 20
33 THOMPKINS, TREY 8:35 3   1/2     1 1     1     4   -2
44 TAYLOR, JEFFERY 16:41 3 0/1 1/6   1   1           1 1 -2
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 72 19/28 8/27 10/13 6 27 33 12 8 18 5 2 17 19 81
        67.9% 29.6% 76.9%
Head coach: LASO, PABLO
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
Olympiacos Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 CHARALAMPOPOULOS, VASILIS 3:50   0/1 0/1         1             -1
5 LARENTZAKIS, GIANNOULIS 21:28 7 1/3 1/5 2/3 1 4 5 1   1     4 3 4
7 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 19:27 7 2/3 1/1   1 1 2 3 1 2   1 2 2 9
11 SLOUKAS, KOSTAS 24:29 5 1/2 1/3     2 2 5 1 4       2 8
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA 33:20 22 5/6 3/5 3/3   3 3           1 3 24
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 15:48 7 3/6 0/2 1/1 2 2 4   2 3   1 2 1 3
17 JEAN-CHARLES, LIVIO 17:31     0/2   2 5 7   1 3     2 2 3
22 JENKINS, CHARLES 16:08 2 1/1 0/1     1 1 1 2       2   3
31 KOUFOS, KOSTA 16:51 2 1/9     3 4 7 1   3 1 2 3 1 -4
32 ELLIS, OCTAVIUS 12:18 4 2/5             2 1 1 1 1 1 2
77 MCKISSIC, SHAQUIELLE 18:50 7 0/2 1/2 4/4       2 2       2 2 8
Team           1   1               1
Totals 200:00 63 16/38 7/22 10/11 10 22 32 14 11 17 2 5 19 17 60
        42.1% 31.8% 90.9%
Head coach: BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS

Head Coaches

BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
Olympiacos Piraeus

"I would like to congratulate Real for the win. After our Valencia game it was one more for us against a team which had a game like a final to them. We needed to find a motivation, and I cannot complain at all about our effort. But we needed to shoot the ball better. We missed a lot of shots under the basket, sometimes with a fear of Tavares, but sometimes without him. So we needed better percentages over there, and also we created some open spots but missed most of them. You need to shoot the ball better if you want to win over here. But for the effort, for 40 minutes, I cannot complain. We have one more game this season next week on home court against Khimki, and we need to finish our season the best way we can."

MATEO, CHUS

Assistant coach Real Madrid

"We did a very good job from the beginning. We worked very hard, all 12 players that went to the court tonight. Olympiacos is a team that knows how to play, they have dangerous players who know how to create and can win games by themselves. As a team I think we did a very good job behind our defense. We were not as lucky on offense, we did not score easy, but I am very happy and very proud of the players because they deserved it. We had such a tough season, we deserve to be among the top 8. We don't talk about individual performances, but Gabriel Deck, Edy Tavares and the rest of the players tried their best in the minutes they spent on the floor. Congratulations to them, they deserve it."

"I believe we had quite a complete game, where everyone contributed with positive things, all 12 players who played. From the very first moment we had a very high defensive level, and I believe a key was the job we performed with Sloukas and Spanoulis, who are two really good basketball players and generate offense for that team. They are champions, it is always difficult to play against them, they had an excellent match against Valencia the other day and were probably a bit more tired. But if we want to highlight something, we gave it all defensively and behaved as a team, controlled shots and penetrations, and in general we dominated. We probably could have turned the ball over fewer times, but this was very important for our team and another step to making it to the playoffs."

Players

CARROLL, JAYCEE
Real Madrid
We will take tonight to enjoy the win, for sure. It is good to get back in the win column. We played against a team with a lot of great players, a lot of legends and it is always fun to come out to compete and have an opportunity to win those games. We got a lot of work still ahead of us, one game left in the regular season. We have one domestic league game until then, but we got to get ourselves ready for a couple more battles.
TAVARES, WALTER
Real Madrid
"Gabriel Deck brings everything to this team. He brings energy, he is a great player in the low post. He can give us a little bit of everything, he is one of the great players we have today. He always shows up in a great time. I am doing so-so, but this time we have something to fight for. It does not matter if I am hurt or not, I just have to play and try to help. Of course I am going to be ready for Fenerbahce, we need that one."