This Barça de Peñarroya is somewhat disoriented, having lost two consecutive league games (against Baskonia and Unicaja) and was also shrinking this Thursday in Piraeus. All the power that had been showing in Europe has been blown away by the wind, destroyed by the vehemence of the Greeks, needing as they were to capture a prestigious victory to stabilize themselves in the vanguard platoon, now with four victories and three defeats.
The Blaugrana (5-2 in the Euroleague) have been disconcerted by the already legendary noise of the Athenian parish and the power of Shaquielle McKissic and the versatility of Dorsey, who hit from all positions, in penetrations and in three-point shots , and every time he appeared he prevented Barça from reacting.
It was a triple by Dorsey (the second he scored) that closed the second quarter, setting it at 44-36, and outlined an uphill drift for Barça, which was operating in tow, groggy since the end of the first quarter, when they had conceded an 8-0 run and looked down on the scoreboard (21-17).
By then, McKissic was a cyclone, a compact of muscles that drove Anderson and Jabari Parker crazy, since none of them could find a way to stop him.
McKissic drew a path towards the low post and then opened the pass to the outside for Dorsey to score, or gave an assist to the giant Milutinov, or scored himself to the despair of Joan Peñarroya, who was writhing on the bench (he was writhing almost as much like Bartzokas, the Greek coach, who did not let one pass and put pressure on his men, keeping them tense).
On the Barça side, Punter and Satoransky barely appeared, this time very little given the depth of the Olympiacos bench and the efficiency under the hoops of Vezenkov and Milutinov (both hunted balls in the Barça paint, one after the other, 13 rebounds between the two, facilitating second shots from the Greeks) and also in the face of the inspirational state of the already legendary Evan Fournier, a cyclone in the third quarter, with ten points in a row (19 at the end), a headache for Barça.
The score went up to 56-44 and then up to 59-44, after a triple by Papanikolau.
Barça was already reeling, facing the last quarter fifteen points down (65-50), helpless and diminished, nights like this generate uncertainty and a point of anxiety on the bench and in the offices that think about basketball.
Olympiacos, 95 – Barça, 74
Technical sheet
Olympiacos: Fournier (19), Walkup (8), Papanikolau (3), Milutinov (12), Vezenkov (18); Wright (4), McKissic (10), Williams-Goss (4), Dorsey (12), Peters (5), Vildoza (0) and Mustapha Fall (2).
Barça: Juan Núñez (3), Abrines (0), Punter (18), Jabari Parker (9), Vesely (6); Yousoupha Fall (0), Satoransky (4), Anderson (5), Metu (12), Brizuela (4), Sarr (2) and Willy Hernangómez (11).
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