2020-21Regular SeasonRound 11
Olympiacos Piraeus 76
TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 90
November 26, 2020 CET: 20:00
Local time: 21:00 PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM

Baskonia grabs rare road win in Pireaus

TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz recorded a valuable road win by downing Olympiacos Piraeus 76-90 on Thursday. Baskonia improved to 5-5 in the standings and beat Olympiacos on the road for the first time since 2007, while the Reds dropped to 5-4 with their third home loss this season. Zoran Dragic led the winners with 18 points, Pierria Henry added 17 points and 11 assists, Alex Peters scored 16 and Achille Polonara 14 for Baskonia, which led 31-47 at halftime and never looked back. Georgios Printezis and Kostas Sloukas paced Olympiacos with 15 points apiece. The Reds also got 12 points each from Hassan Martin and Shaquielle McKissic.

Youssoupha Fall got Baskonia going with a tip-in, but Printezis quickly gave Olympiacos a 5-2 lead. Rokas Giedraitis and Luca Vildoza each struck from downtown to give Baskonia regain a 5-8 edge. Sloukas and Giannoulis Larentzaris joined the three-point shootout, but Vildoza and an unstoppable Fall restored an 11-15 Baskonia lead. Martin sank a jump hook, but Peters struck from beyond the arc and added a three-point play to give the visitors a 15-23 lead after 10 minutes. Henry capped a 0-8 run with a jumper that made it a double-digit game, 15-25, early in the second quarter. Printezis stepped up with a put-back basket, but Dragic and Polonara each buried a three-pointer in another 0-8 run that broke the game open, 17-33. Kostas Papanikolaou and McKissic tried to ignite the Reds' comeback, but Polonara and Dragic kept Baskonia way ahead, 21-38. Jekiri dunked and Polonara insisted from downtown to make it 21-43. Three-pointers by Papanikolaou and Larentzakis brought Olympiacos closer, 31-47, at halftime.

Henry took over with a driving layup soon after the break, but Printezis answered with a close basket and a couple of jumpers to make it 37-49. Sloukas capped an 8-0 run with a layup, but Henry gave Baskonia fresh air at 39-53. McKissic ignited his team's bench with a wild three-point play and Martin got the Reds within single digits, 44-53. Henry kept pacing the visitors, getting help from Dragic and Peters to restore a 49-62 Baskonia margin. Henry downed a three-pointer and Dragic scored again, but Vassilis Spanoulis, McKissic and Printezis drew Olympiacos within 58-67 after 30 minutes. Peters and Henry prompted Olympiacos to call timeout at 60-71 early in the fourth quarter. Dragic and Giedraitis each struck from downtown to seal the outcome, 60-77, with 6 minutes left. Olympiacos kept trying, but only managed to get closer when the outcome was clear.

Pivotal performer

Pierria Henry controlled the game rhythm, pushing Baskonia to run the floor as much as possible. He finished the game with 17 points on 5-of-8 two-point shooting, made his 2 three-point shots and added 6 rebounds, 11 assists and 3 steals for a PIR of 24.

Game-changing moment

Alec Peters came off the bench and made the difference in the game, scoring 8 points in a 2-16 run that bridged the two opening quarters in which Zoran Dragic and Achille Polonara each hit a three-pointer. Baskonia took a 17-33 lead, extended it to 21-43, and never looked back.

Stellar stat

Baskonia took off in an outstanding first half in which the visitors made 12 of 16 two-pointers (75%), 6 of 10 shots from beyond the arc (60%) and outrebounded Olympiacos 11-18. The PIR difference at halftime said it all: Olympiacos 20 - Baskonia 69.

Did you know?

Baskonia snapped a 15-game road losing streak against Olympiacos. Its previous win at Peace and Friendship Stadium came on April 5, 2007, in Game 2 of the playoffs. Baskonia beat Olympiacos 89-95 behind 20 points from Luis Scola and qualified for the 2007 Final Four.

Next game

Both teams return to Turkish Airlines EuroLeague action next week. Olympiacos visits CSKA Moscow on Thursday, December 3 in a rematch of the 2012 EuroLeague championship game. CSKA center Nikola Milutinov faces his former team for the first time since leaving the Reds. Two more CSKA players, Janis Strelnieks and Daniel Hackett, also played for Olympiacos in the past. Baskonia faces Anadolu Efes Istanbul at Sinan Erdem Sports Hall on Friday, December 4. Peters played for Efes last season and three Efes players - Shane Larkin, Rodrigue Beaubois and Tibor Pleiss - have played for Baskonia in the past, too.

Pierria Henry - TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz - EB20
Thursday, November 26, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: BELOSEVIC, ILIJA; RADOVIC, SRETEN; BISSANG, JOSEPH
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus15162718
TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz23242023
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus15315876
TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz23476790
Olympiacos Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 NIKOLAIDIS, ALEXANDROS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 LARENTZAKIS, GIANNOULIS 14:52 6 0/3 2/3     2 2 1         1 1 5
6 KONIARIS, ANTONIOS 5:08                 1 1     1   -1
7 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 14:21 7 2/4 1/4 0/1   2 2 2   5   1 4 2 -3
11 SLOUKAS, KOSTAS 27:05 15 2/5 2/3 5/7   1 1 3 2 1   1 1 6 18
12 MARTIN, HASSAN 37:20 12 5/8   2/2 4 4 8 1 2       2 1 19
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 28:08 15 6/8 1/3   3 2 5     1     3 3 15
16 PAPANIKOLAOU, KOSTAS 21:45 7   1/3 4/4       2 1       3 3 8
22 JENKINS, CHARLES 20:24 2 1/2       2 2   1       4    
41 CHRISTIDIS, VASILEIOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
77 MCKISSIC, SHAQUIELLE 30:57 12 4/5 0/6 4/4   2 2 3 2 5     2 3 8
Team           2 1 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 76 20/35 7/22 15/18 9 16 25 12 9 14 0 2 21 19 71
        57.1% 31.8% 83.3%
Head coach: BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
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
TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 RAIESTE, SANDER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3 VILDOZA, LUCA 17:36 6 1/1 1/3 1/1 1 2 3 2   2     1 2 8
5 JEKIRI, TONYE 20:09 6 2/3   2/4 1 1 2 5 3 2     2 2 11
7 HENRY, PIERRIA 34:56 17 5/8 2/2 1/3 3 3 6 11 3 7     4 3 24
8 SEDEKERSKIS, TADAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 DIOP, ILIMANE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 FALL, YOUSSOUPHA 16:54 7 3/3   1/1 3 4 7 1   2 1   1 2 15
25 PETERS, ALEC 24:19 16 3/4 2/5 4/4 2 3 5 1   1     3 4 18
30 DRAGIC, ZORAN 27:42 18 4/5 3/6 1/2   2 2   1 1     3 4 16
31 GIEDRAITIS, ROKAS 24:56 6 0/3 2/6     1 1 1   2     2   -3
33 POLONARA, ACHILLE 33:28 14 2/3 3/4 1/3   3 3 2 1 2 1   3 4 16
47 KURUCS, ARTURS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team             3 3               3
Totals 200:00 90 20/30 13/26 11/18 10 22 32 23 8 19 2 0 19 21 108
        66.7% 50% 61.1%
Head coach: IVANOVIC, DUSKO

Head Coaches

BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"I would like to congratulate Baskonia for the win. The game was as we expected. We needed to overdo a lot of things to win this game today. We used a lot of tricks, defensively and offensively, but we knew that if we wanted to win this game, we needed, first of all, a better percentage for threes. And also we needed to spend the fouls smarter than we did. We were afraid of that because we didn't have a lot of players on the bench and gave them the opportunity in the first half to find confidence. They have a lot of great shooters and in the first 20 minutes, they had 60% for threes and 75% for twos. So it was the wrong approach. We improved in the second half and closed the game to 7 points, but finally, when we had the possession and were to score with Spanoulis, it was a foul that was against us, flagrant, and from this call sometimes, at this level, we couldn't have a second effort to win this game. Anyway, this is the situation. We cannot cry, we are pros. We just expect our five players to come back, to start having more quality in practices. For example, for Martin, it is difficult to play against three seven-footers which he doesn't have any contact in practice. It's okay, congratulations to our kids, our players. We had good and bad moments in the game but finally, we need to stay together and focus on the next game. In this EuroLeague, everybody can lose everywhere. Let's focus, be all together and fight in every game."
IVANOVIC, DUSKO
TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"After 13 years, we finally won on the road against Olympiacos. We are very happy. I think we played very good defense, especially all five players were really focused. We had easy options on offense, but the moments when Olympiacos started to play aggressive, we lost a little bit our easy movements, easy passes, especially in the second half, when Olympiacos played switching defense. We had problems getting the ball to our pivots inside. Everybody is happy for this victory and I want to say one big effort, what Luca Vildoza did. He had a big problem with his back but wanted to play. Everybody played well but tonight, Henry played excellent defense against Sloukas, against Spanoulis and on offense, also, he found very good options for our shooters."

Players

HENRY, PIERRIA
TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"I get tired, just like the rest of my teammates. They are fighting hard so it is only right for me to try to push the rhythm. My statistics don't mean anything, I am just grateful that we got the win, that we got a good road win and I just can praise my teammates, for real. It is mind over matter. I just want to start what I finish and be out there with my teammates, try to help out as much as I can, do whatever I can. If I am not injured, I can get to it."
DRAGIC, ZORAN
TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"We played together. We started very well, aggressive. We know that Olympiacos is a great team and if you don't play aggressive, they go up and you lose the game fast. So we maintained this for all four quarters and won the game."