Olympiacos thrashed Unicaja 93-66

Olympiacos bounced back from its first loss in Turkish Airlines Euroleague regular season Group B by thrashing Unicaja 93-66 in the Pireaus, Greece on Wednesday. Olympiacos improved to 2-1 in Group B while Unicaja dropped to 1-2. Kostas Papanikolaou and Ioannis Bourousis led the winners with 17 points apiece. Vassilis Spanoulis added 16 while Milos Teodosic and Rasho Nesterovic each had 11 for Olympiacos. Teodosic added 9 assists while Spanoulis dished 7 for the Reds. Joel Freeland led Unicaja with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Georgios Printezis added 13 points while Terrell McIntyre had 11. Papanikolaou struck twice from downtown in an early 12-0 run that gave Olympiacos the lead for good, 12-2. Olympiacos boosted its margin to 27-11 after 10 minutes and then again to 47-25 at halftime. McIntyre and Printezis fueled Unicaja's comeback after the break to bring the guests within 52-43. Bourousis had 10 points in a 16-0 run that allowed Olympiacos to seal the outcome, 68-45, at the end of the third quarter. Unicaja kept trying but the Reds had cruised to a very convincing home win.

Printezis needed just 3 seconds to score against his former team but Papanikolaou answered from downtown for a 3-2 Olympiacos lead. Spanoulis provided a highlight with an off-balance layup and Nesterovic added a tip-in. Unicaja went scoreless for more than 4 minutes as the Reds were all over the place in defense. Papanikolaou downed his second triple and a backdoor layup by Nesterovic made it a double-digit game, 12-2. Nesterovic stayed unstoppable in the paint and even when Printezis scored again, a driving layup by Spanoulis gave Olympiacos a 16-5 margin. Unicaja improved its defense with Robert Archibald and Guille Rubio on court. Nesterovic and Archibald traded free throws and Rubio gave the guests some hope at 17-8. Loukas Mavrokefalidis dunked it over two defenders and Milos Teodosic added a wild triple to boost the Reds' lead to 23-8. Mavrokefalidis dunked it again and even when Uros Tripkovic downed a three-pointer, he beat the buzzer with a layup for a 27-11 Olympiacos lead after 10 minutes.

Bourousis scored off a spin move in the low post early in the second quarter, as Unicaja kept struggling to score. Meanwhile, a driving layup by Theo Papaloukas gave Olympiacos a 20-point lead, 31-11. Printezis tried to change things with an easy basket in transition and soon added a left-handed driving layup that made the Reds call timeout at 31-15. Papanikolaou followed an easy layup with an acrobatic three-point play that restored a 36-15 Olympiacos lead. Bourousis scored down low and Spanoulis added free throws, as Unicaja tried twin point guards with Rafa Freire and McIntyre together on court. Freeland shined with a put-back basket and fed Tripkovic for a floating layup. Nesterovic stepped up with a jump hook and Spanoulis struck from downtown for a 45-21 score. Tripkovic scored in penetration and Freire added a layup off a steal but another big basket by Papanikolaou fixed the halftime score at 47-25.

Printezis made free throws immediately after the break and matched Nesterovic's jump hook with a layup in transition. Freeland soon added a backdoor layup to get Unicaja within 49-31. McIntyre found his first points to force coach Dusan Ivkovic to call timeout at 49-33. Carlos Jimenez sank a baseline jumper, as Olympiacos kept struggling to score despite finding open shots. Meanwhile, McIntyre struck from downtown to bring Unicaja back to life, 49-38. Teodosic buried a three-pointer but a dunk by Freeland and free throws by McIntyre got Unicaja within single digits, 52-43. Bourousis rescued Olympiacos with a jump hook, back-to-back dunks and consecutive jumpers in a 16-0 run that Spanoulis capped with a driving layup to put the hosts out of trouble, 68-43. Freeland scored down low but he only managed to bring Unicaja within 68-45 after three quarters.

Unicaja needed another comeback to avoid a tough loss and Freeland ignited to ignite it with a mid-range jumper. Olympiacos tried to use long possessions to run the game clock down. Bourousis kept pacing the Reds with a two-handed dunk and soon split free throws to seal the outcome, 71-47, with 8 minutes left. Spanoulis downed a three-pointer and even when Freeland stayed on fire, he didn't find much help around. Nesterovic scored around the basket and a layup by Matt Nielsen gave Olympiacos another game-high lead, 78-49. Freeland shined with a reverse layup but everything was said and done at this point. Olympiacos proved it is arguably the top candidate to win Group B while Unicaja needs to bounce back right away in its upcoming home game against Virtus Roma.