2019-20Regular SeasonRound 4
October 25, 2019 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 BUESA ARENA

Baskonia defeats Olympiacos in home opener

KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz opened its home campaign on a positive note by downing Olympiacos Piraeus 82-66 on Friday. Baskonia, which had played on the road in the opening three rounds, improved to 2-2 in the standings while Olympiacos dropped to 1-3. Toko Shengelia led the winners with 25 points and 9 rebounds. Pierria Henry added 12 points, Nik Stauskas had 11, Luca Vildoza got 10 and Youssoupha Fall pulled down 16 rebounds for Baskonia. Brandon Paul led Olympiacos with 15 points. Vassilis Spanoulis, Will Cherry and Augustine Rubit each had 10 for the guests. Stauskas and Shengelia shined early to give Baskonia a 23-21 lead after 10 minutes. Patricio Garino and an outstanding Fall allowed Baskonia to get a 36-25 margin, which Olympiacos cut to 41-36 at halftime. Shengelia took over after the break, getting gelp from Vildoza and Stauskas to boost the hosts' lead to 58-49 at the end of the third quarter. Rubit and Paul brought Olympiacos within 69-61 midway through the fourth but Baskonia pulled away near the end.

Stauskas got Baskonia going with a three-pointer, then Shengelia followed a layup with a jumper for a 7-2 lead. Cherry and Nikola Milutinov each scored around the basket in a 0-6 run which Georgios Printezis capped with a jump hook that gave Olympiacos its first lead, 7-8. Shavon Shields and Spanoulis traded layups and Stauskas struck from downtown for a 12-10 Baskonia edge. Paul answered from beyond the arc but Shengelia and Fall boosted the hosts' lead to 18-14. Vildoza hit a triple but Cherry, Paul and Augustine Rubit kept Olympiacos within 23-21 after 10 minutes. Garino scored down low early in the second quarter and a tip-in by Fall boosted the hosts' lead to 27-21. Milutinov and Fall traded put-back baskets and a triple by Garino made the guests call timeout. Mindaugas Kuzminskas scored in the paint but Fall and Henry helped Baskonia get a double-digit lead, 36-25. Three-pointers by Cherry, Spanoulis and Paul pulled Olympiacos back, but Shengelia answered from downtown at the halftime buzzer for a 41-36 lead. Spanoulis hit a triple soon after halftime and Printezis added a layup but back-to-back floaters by Vildoza and a four-point play by Stauskas kept Baskonia ahead. Milutinov dunked but Shengelia followed a three-point play with a reverse layup for a 54-43 score. Kevin Punter found his first points, and got help from Rubit and Spanoulis to give Olympiacos hope, 58-49, after 30 minutes. Shengelia fed Matt Janning for a backdoor layup and scored down low for a 62-49 Baskonia margin early in the fourth quarter. Vildoza struck from beyond the arc but Rubit scored twice and Paul added a wild corner triple that got the Reds within 67-56. Paul insisted from downtown to make it a single-digit game, 69-61. But Shengelia followed a three-pointer with a jump hook and by the time Henry struck from beyond the arc, Baskonia had sealed the outcome.

Pivotal performer

Youssoupha Fall played the best game of his short EuroLeague career, becoming a dominant force under the baskets. He finished the game with 8 points on 4-of-5 shooting, adding 16 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 fouls drawn for a PIR of 23. Nikola Milutinov had three double-doubles in as many games until now, but Fall outplayed him on this occasion.

Game-changing moment

Olympiacos managed to get within 69-61 midway through the fourth quarter and it seemed that one of the Reds' trademark comebacks was in progress, but Tornike Shengelia scored a triple and added a jump hook, then Pierria Henry struck from downtown to seal the outcome, 77-64, with 3 minutes left.

Stellar stat

Baskonia outrebounded Olympiacos by 51-31, pulling down 19 offensive rebounds. Those 51 rebounds are the third-best mark by Baskonia in the EuroLeague - it pulled down 54 against Besiktas Istanbul on January 10, 2013 and 53 against Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul on December 9, 2016. Baskonia also had 8 blocks and limited its turnovers to just 8.

Did you notice?

Fall's 16 rebounds tie the third-best mark in Baskonia's EuroLeague history. Only Victor Alexander, (19, vs. Kinder Bologna in Game 1 of the 2001 Finals) and Mirza Teletovic (17, vs. Olympiacos on October 25, 2007) are ahead of him. Fall also tied the EuroLeague's best rebounding mark this season - Milutinov had 16 boards against Zenit St Petersburg in Round 3.

Next game:

Baskonia visits LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on Tuesday, October 29 at 20:45 CET. A day later, Olympiacos visits CSKA Moscow in a rematch of the 2012 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Championship Game.

Tornike Shengelia - KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz - EB19
Friday, October 25, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: JAVOR, DAMIR; DIFALLAH, MEHDI; ROSSI, MICHELE
Attendance: 10584
By Quarter1234
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz23181724
Olympiacos Piraeus21151317
End of Quarter1234
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz23415882
Olympiacos Piraeus21364966
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 VILDOZA, LUCA 22:51 10 2/5 2/5   1 2 3 6 2 1 1 1 2 2 14
5 GONZALEZ, MIGUEL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 HENRY, PIERRIA 18:59 12 2/4 2/4 2/2 1 2 3 2   2     3 2 10
11 JANNING, MATT 17:08 2 1/2 0/3   1 1 2 1   1     1   -1
12 DIOP, ILIMANE 1:40                     1   1    
19 FALL, YOUSSOUPHA 27:32 8 4/5     6 10 16     2 2   2 2 23
22 STAUSKAS, NIK 20:37 11 0/2 3/7 2/2   3 3     1 1 1   1 8
23 SHENGELIA, TORNIKE 29:45 25 9/16 2/6 1/1 5 4 9 3     1   3 4 28
29 GARINO, PATRICIO 25:39 7 1/4 1/1 2/2   4 4   1 1       1 9
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 14:46 4 2/5 0/1   2 2 4               4
33 POLONARA, ACHILLE 10:15 2 1/1 0/1   2   2   1   1   2 1 4
50 ERIC, MICHAEL 10:48 1 0/1   1/2   3 3       1   3 1 1
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 82 22/45 10/28 8/9 19 32 51 12 4 8 8 2 17 14 102
        48.9% 35.7% 88.9%
Head coach: PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
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
0 PUNTER, KEVIN 16:02 2 1/6                     1   -4
2 BALDWIN IV, WADE 3:22   0/1 0/1   1   1               -1
3 PAUL, BRANDON 28:00 15 0/1 5/9 0/1   3 3         1 2 2 11
6 KONIARIS, ANTONIOS 2:02                   2     2 1 -3
7 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 29:19 10 1/2 2/9 2/3   1 1 5   2   3   3 5
10 CHERRY, WILL 29:15 10 2/4 2/3   1 4 5 5 1     1 4   13
11 MILUTINOV, NIKOLA 29:06 9 3/6   3/4 4 6 10 1 1 1 2 1   3 20
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA 0:04                         1   -1
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 25:54 8 4/10 0/1     2 2 1 1     1 1 3 6
16 PAPANIKOLAOU, KOSTAS 12:00     0/2         1 1 2     1   -3
19 KUZMINSKAS, MINDAUGAS 6:46 2 1/2 0/1                 1 1 2  
21 RUBIT, AUGUSTINE 18:10 10 4/6   2/3   4 4           2 3 12
Team           3 2 5               5
Totals 200:00 66 16/38 9/26 7/11 9 22 31 13 4 7 2 8 15 17 60
        42.1% 34.6% 63.6%
Head coach: KEMZURA, KESTUTIS

Head Coaches

PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz

"I think it is very important to start our EuroLeague home season with a win, especially against a team that has been our toughest opponent in recent years. I think we played with a lot of intensity and some of our players performed at a very high level, and that makes things easier for us to have an easier game than we expected. Shengelia had a great game but there were other players at a high level, like Fall, the point guards, Pato Garino...It is also true that it was the first time that we were more or less healthy, all players, and that allowed us to rotate more naturally. Everybody had an option to play, and that also helps. Rebounding is a very important part of the game but like I said, we also did well all-around. We didn't have many turnovers, which was one of our problems in recent games. If you relax 2-3 minutes against a team like Olympiacos, they can hit three three-pointers in the blink of an eye, like they did at the end of the second quarter. Having a high level of concentration is very important in the EuroLeague."

"I think we played very tough, with great hustle. We have some players in great shape, like our two big men [Shengelia and Fall]. In crucial moments, we found the way to stop their reaction. There was an important moment in the third quarter, we knew it and stopped their reaction, and this was the key. It is always important to win at home. We must use our [home court] advantage, this is the key. It is not easy because we play against great teams, but it is important to start with a victory."

KEMZURA, KESTUTIS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"Congratulations to Baskonia: they played very well and deserved it. We tried, but it is not enough to try. We cannot expect a better result if we play so soft against EuroLeague teams like this. First of all, obviously, it is the 19 offensive rebounds of our opponent. They got 13 in the first half. We had good defensive sequences, did what we wanted to do in the game, but we gave them the second chances. It is impossible to win games when they are rebounding like this. We did a better job in the second half but Shengelia just killed us and again, we were too soft one-on-one. We understand he is a great player but we let him do it too easily, to score without resistence sometimes. Offensively, of course, when you score 66 points, it is tough to win. It is too much pressure on your defense."

Players

SHENGELIA, TORNIKE
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"It feels great that we won the game. We did an amazing job. The problems we had in the games we lost were offensive rebounds and turnovers, and we took care of that tonight. For us, for the fans, for the city, we needed to win this game and I am very happy that we won."