Olympiacos started the game with a combination of good ball-handlers on Law and Spanoulis, Papanikolaou at 3 and the Printezis-Powell duo up front, mainly seeking balance in a potential offensive flow that should be expected by Real Madrid’s uptempo offense. It’s quite typical for a lineup of Llull, Rudy and Mirotic to be parts of quick lineups, while Mirza Begic and the glue guy Carlos Suarez are good enough to make space for the rest to operate.
While Bartzokas’ plan was not to stay back in the score and also have enough time to be flexible if this went out of hand early, this obviously didn’t work in the 1st quarter. Olympiacos’ lineup got just two early leads, the last being a 3rd possession assisted layup that allowed them to lead 4-3. Since then, they struggled to contain the too many justified treys by the Spanish, while oversized Rudy Fernandez won the height battle by his backcourt opponents to hit a contested off the dribble trey, adding pressure on Olympiacos’ defensive focus. Mirotic’s trey and then Begic gave Madrid their first 2-possession lead early in the 5th minute (4-8), just before Law cut it down to 3 to give the red team their last one-possession losing margin for the following 14 minutes of the game.
It was Llull with a trey getting it quickly back to six and then Begic dominating the paint and Madrid’s high pressure offense on creator Spanoulis that forced the regular season’s MVP to only have one option. Drive towards the 2.20meter Slovenian center. He was blocked once and had poor shot selections and a couple of turnovers in the first half of the quarter. That resulted to another assisted layup off the fast break for Mirotic who was also getting the best out of Printezis on defense, blocking one of his shots and making the Greek PF disappear from the court offensively in the 1st quarter.
Suarez was added to the scoring list after another off the charts bad Spanoulis’ shot to increase the lead to double digits only at the 6th minute of the game and then exchange of layups by Papanikolaou and Begic kept the lead at the same levels. At a moment where the post traffic was definitely going towards Madrid’s side, Powell was quickly subbed by Bartzokas for the more energetic post presence of Kyle Hines, but again this hope for change came a little bit too late for the Greek coach. Rudy’s second contested off-the-dribble trey made it a 13-point game to open up a lead that looked tough to close. Worse than that, even with most shots being unlikely to be repeated, Madrid was getting the necessary boost that keeps them going towards blow outs, something we’ve witnessed not a few times this season. Hines’ goal foul gave Bartzokas a good reason for getting him in the game, alarming Madrid for a potential change of ball movement, but Llull kept the tempo up and got another one-on-one trey to keep the lead at its max. As expected, Olympiacos tried to reply with a three and after Antic’s miss, it was Llull with the coast to coast layup. A similar brainless Spanoulis’ idea got another easy finish by Rudy off uptempo Llull’s rebound and assist. Rudy was pulled out by Laso for Jaycee Carroll to come in, before Madrid’s lads went back to their bench with the early 10-27 lead at the end of the quarter.
A slow start by Madrid that included two turnovers in the first three possessions and a finally good outside shot by previously missing badly Pero Antic gave Olympiacos the better start in the early part of the 2nd quarter. As Olympiacos managed to force zero points for Madrid till the end of the 2nd minute. At that moment, frustrated Spanoulis had already been pulled out for Sloukas and later Katsivelis also followed for Law to get fresh legs for the Reds, but Laso copied that by finally getting Sergio Rodriguez in for Llull. One would expect that Sergio (Madrid’s hero in the semi-final against Barcelona) would be immediately effective, but Olympiacos’ youth is co-operating pretty smoothly, after all the big games they played together in these two years. S-Rod’s first possession resulted to a turnover and Olympiacos finally got going with Kyle Hines below the rim. Starting to attack the paint and thus open up more shooting opportunities now that shooter Perperoglou also joined in for Papanikolaou gave Oly the chance for their first true moment of breathing room. It was now an 8-0 run and, though a bit early for the engine to be really warm (after all, their entire starting lineup was non-existent both sides), it was at least heating up.
Pablo Laso couldn’t have reacted better though. Knowing that the most productive lineups of Real include both Carroll and Fernandez, he got Rudy back in for Suarez to go smaller ball with Rudy at three and both his offensive wings managed by pass-first PG S-Rod, who finally got room to operate. Rudy got to the line for two free throws to give the Spanish team their first 2nd quarter points and allow them to return to double digits, but the Reds now knew when to foul and Laso’s other sub, Felipe Reyes (came in for Mirotic), missed his frees on a potentially assisted layup, so Oly’s good fouls that also allowed them to continue scoring at the other end, somehow revealed a psychological balance of the game at the first half of the 2nd quarter.
While in the meantime, Olympiacos got key well-assisted buckets by veteran subs Antic and Perperoglou, Real’s defense was looking to re-read the way of Oly’s passing game. A team with excellent synchronization regarding the game’s pace on a possession per possession mode, Olympiacos’ couldn’t be allowed to come closer than that, if the Madrid team really wanted to keep the early lead at least close to double digits by HT. Finally Reyes was spotted for Sergio after a couple of poor possessions and Olympiacos’ back ups committed a turnover before Katsivelis and Sloukas were subbed by Law and Spanoulis respectively. With Hines scoring his last two points via the FT line before being pulled out of the game for long and quick on his feet Shermadini, Olympiacos cut it again down to seven and Slaughter finished an alley-hoop after Reyes’ big-to-big assist before there was a few nervous possessions headlined by a Spanoulis dribble turnover and a Carroll miss on an assisted long jumper. Law went to the free throw after a Jaycee foul on his layup and Laso thought he had enough with this backcourt and tried small-ball with Llull returning in the place of Rudy. A quick miss by the newly entered combo guard resulted to an assisted bucket on the other end and the Spanish coach had no other option but calling a time-out, which finally ended the sore offensive quarter for his team with a Shermadini foul on Sergio and two easy points for the skilled PG.
Mirotic was now back in for Slaughter to play alongside Reyes and again Suarez was getting the lineup longer and more defense-oriented, as Carroll was taken out of the game. With an increased number of possessions in the last two minutes of the half, mainly due to both teams having reached five fouls, we got many points, mainly because of Acie Law’s and Sergio Rodriguez’s good execution and court vision. When Printezis cut the lead to 34-37, after a one of two free throws with a minute to go, Olympiacos had returned to a single possession game, thus Bartzokas’ goal was after all achieved on a quarter full of substitutions that, however, forced also many offensive changes to Laso’s side and showing a potential tremble for the Spanish in the third quarter, before it even started. When the quarter ended, it was a 37-41 Madrid lead.
Real Madrid returned to the court with their starting lineup. Bartzokas, appreciating Antic’s key shots in the 2nd quarter chose to keep the open-up option on his, so he started at PF and Printezis was left out for the tip off.
A storm of off-the-dribble treys by Spanoulis and a layup by Law, gave Olympiacos an early lead in the 3rd quarter, while it took the reds almost 3mins to miss a possession. Madrid was looking lost on court, with most shots or Fts off target and a misconduction on their defensive focus, when Llull was guarding Olympiacos’ captain.
Spanoulis kept dominating the backcourt and, while he stopped being offensively efficient, Olympiacos kept scoring regardless, while being lucky in a chain of possessions, which resulted into easy 2nd chance layups by Law. Madrid literally missed a good part of their early momentum, and also saw Mirotic getting injured in a blocked layup, when he fell on a photographer. Approaching the 25th minute of the game, Olympiacos had already taken a 52-46 lead in the score and the stands were red, full of celebrations for a potential repeat.
A necessary timeout by Laso and an offensive rebound+2FTs by Carlos Suarez were showing that the bad chance of Madrid might have ended, but that wasn’t true. Sloukas’ off the dribble long two kept the margin to 6 points (54-48, 25′) and Olympiacos at 17-7 in the 3rd quarter.
It took Madrid a few minuted before they scored a field goal again, once Rudy managed an off balance layup, following Spanoulis had his third straight long-distance horrible miss. Spanoulis came back with two ffree throws, though, to keep the balance in two possession margin (55-51, 26′), using his quick legs to earn the foul on the layp. However, it was obvious that Madrid was back in the game, once easier buckets and, especially, better defensive performances, gave them the lead on the 27th minute, with a long trey by Rudy, following additional high pick pressure on defense. Olympiacos, now down 55-56, needed a timeout.
The returning lineup was a small ball one (Spanoulis-Sloukas-Law-Printezis-Hines), forcing easier Fts and two points by Sloukas from the charity line. Madrid missed two treys and a layup, before finally adjusting to the additional pressure with the heroics of Felipe Reyes who grabbed an offensive board and scored one of the two earnt Fts. Ball movement, though, worked well for Oly, who used their passing game to isolate Hines for an easy two on the other end and increased the lead to two points with two minutes to go. Another couple of Fts, this time by Rudy, tied the game to 59, before a miss for each team gave Olympiacos the first possession of the 29th minute. Fts by Spanoulis and Sergio Rodriguez got the teams tied at 61 at the end of the quarter.
Olympiacos returned to a longer lineup, using Perperoglou in the SF position and he scored a quick jumper to give Oly the lead opening the quarter (63-61). A pair of misses for both squads was followed by a foul on Sergio, who scored only one of his free throws and Oly got Law on an off-a-screen layup attempt that got him back to the charity line, where he scored twice to reach 14pts. At the end of the 32nd minute, Oly was up by three and a congested Sergio layup miss was followed by Madrid’s quick 3rd foul for the quarter on Law’s fast break attempt to give the chance to the American PG for another two easy FT points. Oly was up 67-62. At that point, Olymnpiacos’ advantage was becoming obvious, especially when it came to the three early Madrid fouls.
Shermadini’s addition to the lineup had a surprising outcome on defending Llull on the next possession to force an unexpected turnover and Spanoulis cama back to score an off-a-screen three pointer and make it 70-62 for Olympiacos, before Laso was forced to call a time out, with 7:17 to go in the game.
When they came back, Rudy earnt two easy points from the charity to cut it down to six and Law committed a turnover. Jaycee Carroll scored an open trey, just to prove how possessions after a timeout are highly effective, but Perperoglou replied with another well worked open three to ger the lead back to sic for the Greek squad. An off-the-ball foul on Reyes, led the new Offensive Rebounding King of the Euroleague to the charity, where again he made one of two and the game was now 73-68 with 6 minutes to go and just before Sloukas got it back up to seven with a jumper, assissted by Spanoulis. Madrid now shooting free throws in almost every possession got Carroll in the line, making both and this was going to be a high scoring last quarter with both teams fouling much and pretty early in the period.
Shermadini’s perfect execution of high pick and roll after a Spanoulis’ pass gave the Georgian big a three-point play and it was Rudy who was short from outside, just to get Madrid back nervous on defense, where they fouled Papanikolaou off the ball and they got a technical as well. Spanoulis’ 2/2FTs and then Antic’s layup made it again a 10pt game (82-70) with 4:47 to go and the time running now down for the Spanish squad.
Laso’s timeout this time didn’t help and it wasn’t much longer before Olympiacos benefited from Sergio’s turnover to get another fastbreak two by Papanikolaou. The team losing by 17 at the end of 1st quarter was now up by 14. Freethrows by Rydy and Papanikolaou and an off the ball uncontested jumper by Sergio made it 85-73, while Spanoulis and Rudy both missed on hurried up possessions followint that. Wih 3:20 to go, Printezis layed it in after Law’s assist and the lead remained at 14. Olympiacos kept fouling whenever a basket was looking obvious, so Sergio scored 2/2FTs with 3mins left, as Mirotic was cleared to return on the court after his previous injury. An off the dribble late possession miss by Papanikolaou and a foul on Sergio led to another two Fts for the Spanish PG, so Bartzokas called a timeout. Rodriguez made both his Fts, so the game was down to 10 and Madrid had no other option by risking with Oly’s outside shooting. A first open miss by Papanikolaou led to a hurried up off the dribble jumper by Sergio and now it was down to 8 with two minutes left.
However a late clock, very long trey by the guarded Spanoulis, gave the Greeks the psychological boost and again an 11pt lead with 1:40 to go, while Rudy only scored one FT for Madrid in the next possession. Sloukas hit both his Fts, getting it again to 12 points and it was looking over at that moment. A quick alley hoop finish by Slaughter didn’t solve any problems for Madrid who kept fouling on defense, at a moment their pressure was not working. The game was already over by then and it took only free throws to reach the final high scoring 100-88.
