Asvel, in the 16th round of the EuroLeague, hosted Olympiacos on their home court and suffered another defeat in the elite European competition, losing 85:73.
Olympiacos controlled the game from the middle of the first quarter. They found their rhythm, dominated in rebounding, and had a double-digit lead by halftime. In the second half, a similar story unfolded, with the visitors maintaining a double-digit advantage and responding to every threat from Asvel, which played without the injured Nando de Colo.
Isaiah Canaan led the Greek team to victory with 19 points, Alec Peters scored 17, and Shaquielle Mckissic contributed 13. Nikola Milutinov played only one minute, while Filip Petrusev got 15 minutes on the court, recording four points and three rebounds. In the home team, Paris Lee and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot each scored 16 points, and Mike Scott added 12 points.
Both teams didn’t start the game offensively brightly. Points were hard to come by, as evidenced by the score after four minutes of play, with the home team leading 7:6. Then Olympiacos woke up and took the first significant lead at 16:11, but Asvel responded with a mini-run to tie the game. However, the guests ended the first quarter with a lead of 25:18 after Kostas Papanikolaou hit a three-pointer at the end of the quarter.
In the second quarter, Olympiacos continued with a strong defense, allowing them to establish a double-digit lead at 38-28. After the home team closed the gap to 38:31, Olympiacos responded with another surge to take their largest lead at 43:31. Olympiacos had a 49:37 advantage at halftime.
In the third quarter, the primary goal of the home team was to control the offensive rebounds of the guests, which had been causing them a lot of problems. In the third quarter, they succeeded to some extent, the crowd got involved, and Asvel closed the gap to 59-52. Then, the guests responded with a 10-0 run to extend their lead to 68-52, creating a crucial advantage.
At the beginning of the final quarter, Asvel had another period of good play, bringing the score to 71-61. However, as with previous ‘threats,’ there was always a response. Then, Paris Lee made a three-pointer with a foul by Filip Petrusev, who also received a technical for protesting, and Asvel narrowed the gap to 77-67 with five minutes to go. However, they didn’t have the strength for a comeback and suffered another defeat.