Baskonia makes the leader sweat without a reward
The Basque team falls in extra time against Olympiacos
MADRID, 14 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Baskonia lost this Tuesday in extra time against Olympiacos (101-102), leader of the Euroleague, in a match on matchday 21 of the Regular Phase in which they were unable to defend the ten point advantage they enjoyed during the second half, all to further distance their chances of reaching the ‘Play-In’.
After being left out of the Cup in Girona, Pablo Laso’s men reacted against the competition leader and even managed to gain a lead of ten points in the third quarter, thanks in large part to the 17 goals from Frenchman Timothé Luwawu. Cabarrot in that period – he finished with a rating of 25 and 22 – but Georgios Bartzokas’ men managed to force extra time.
In it, the eight points of the American point guard Nigel Williams-Goss helped the Greek team sign its sixth consecutive victory, which places it at the top. Baskonia, on the other hand, remains three wins away from the ‘Play-In’ zone after suffering its third consecutive defeat.
Without their main offensive reference, the American Markus Howard -due to knee discomfort-, nor the Lithuanian Tadas Sedekerskis, the Basque team always kept the pulse with the fittest rival in the Euroleague, where the former baskonista Luca Vildoza, author of the basket that gave the last title to Baskonia, came out from the bench to receive a loud whistle from his fans in response to the two years of litigation he has had with the club vitoriano.
From the beginning, Baskonia managed to stop the offensive rebound of the Greek team and, as a result of their work, managed to take the lead for the first time with 30 seconds left in the first quarter (15-13), in which they managed to win by the minimum (17-16).
Baskonia’s good defensive intensity made us forget the up to ten losses suffered in the first half -by six of the Greeks-; He dominated the rebound with solvency -17 to 7, 6-0 on offense. With the Greek Nikos Rogkavopoulos as a great prop (10 points), they went into the break ahead (42-40).
The good feelings continued upon returning to the locker room, and Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot took care of that. The French forward scored 12 points in a 15-5 run that allowed Pablo Laso’s men to escape on the scoreboard (57-47).
The American point guard Nigel Williams-Goss responded from the personal line with four free throws that tightened things (59-55), but again Luwawu-Cabarrot, with his fourth triple of the match, and a 2+1 by Trent Forrest returned the advantage of +10 to the Vitorians (65-55), which Rogkavopoulos, with another 3+1 seconds later, defended (69-59).
An 0-8 run, with two triples from Sasha Vezenkov and Shaquielle McKissic, put Georgios Bartzokas’ team back in the fight before heading into the final quarter (69-67). A three-pointer from McKissic put them ahead for the first time since the second quarter (71-72), although Kamar Baldwin also answered from the perimeter (74-72).
Seven points in a row from Croatian Luka Samanic turned Buesa Arena (81-75) upside down, which gritted its teeth with the sixth triple of seven attempts by former NBA Evan Fournier (85-83). At 87-87 in the score and with 39 seconds left, Forrest made two free throws and Moustapha Fall answered to tie, and on the possession to win the game Moneke missed the shot. The duel would be decided in overtime (89-89), where Williams-Goss imposed its law.
TECHNICAL SHEET.
–RESULT: BASKONIA, 101 – OLYMPIACOS, 102 (42-40, at halftime).
–TEAMS:
BASKONIA: Forrest (11), Baldwin (9), Luwawu-Cabarrot (25), Diop (2) and Moneke (10) –starting quintet–; Jaramaz (2), Rogkavopoulos (14), Hall (11) and Samanic (17).
OLYMPIACOS: Williams-Goss (19), Vezenkov (19), Papanikolaou (-), Fournier (22) y Fall (12) –inicial quintet–; Vildoza (3), Larentzakis (1), Peters (-), Milutinov (4) and McKissic (22).
–PARTIALS: 17-16, 25-24, 27-27, 20-22 and 12-13.
–REFEREES: Javor, Pastusiak and Radojkovic. They eliminated Baldwin and Forrest for personal fouls against Baskonia.
–PAVILLION: Buesa Arena.