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    (VIDEO) Monaco falls apart as Olympiacos takes commanding 2-0 lead

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    By on EuroLeague, Monaco, News, Olympiacos
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    Olympiacos displayed their quality once again, squashing Monaco 94-64 to take a 2-0 lead in this EuroLeague quarterfinal playoff series.

    The side of Georgios Bartzokas came out ready to play in this series, claiming Game 1 on Tuesday to give themselves more momentum as the favorite over eighth seeded Monaco. They aimed to extend their lead in front of a packed home crowd in Piraeus, including the presence of major stars like Giannis Antetokunmpo and Novak Djokovic, and they managed to do just that.

    As if the injury issues that have plagued Monaco this season have not been prevalent enough, another issue came with the injury to starting big man Daniel Theis as the ended up injuring his hand trying to get to the basket, forcing him to exit the game and not return.

    The shorthanded Monaco frontcourt could do little to deal with EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkov, who had 11 points in the first quarter and received his MVP trophy before the game. However, a series of threes by the visitors kept the first quarter close as the EuroLeague’s top seed took a small 28-23 lead into the second quarter.

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    There, the bench of Olympiacos came out to totally stifle Mike James and Elie Okobo with their long arms and physical defense to go up 43-29, with Evan Fournier and Donta Hall piling on later with another 16-2 run to make it an insurmountable 59-31 deficit for Monaco at half-time, showing flashes of the 2023 semifinal when Monaco went on their famous 27-2 run in that moment.

    Ultimately the frustration of James for his lack of baskets boiled over as the American guard was assessed two technical fouls for complaining to the officials, which led to another ejection this season and might even lead to a possible suspension in the future.

    In the second half, Monaco found a little rhythm to take the third quarter 22-13, but Olympiacos had such a massive lead at that point in the game that Bartzokas was resting most of his starters and looking to rotate as much as he could. Fournier and Thomas Walkup took care of the scoring and playmaking in the second half, spreading the ball around well as every player except Frank Ntilikina scored for the Greek side, which coasted late on to a dominant win.

    Sasha Vezenkov had 21 points and seven rebounds, Evan Fournier added 16 and seven assists while Thomas Walkup had 13. For Monaco, only Kevarrius Hayes and Alpha Diallo were in double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively. The series will now move over to France where Monaco will host Olympiacos in Game 3 in the hope they can avoid the sweep, while Olympiacos will look to book their place in another Final Four. The game is scheduled for Tuesday, May 5th.

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