Olympiacos dumped Zalgiris 78-64

Olympiacos pulled away late to down Zalgiris 78-64 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Thursday for the Reds’ fifth straight Turkish Airlines Euroleague win. Although the fate of both teams was sealed last week, they both played hard and the game had plenty of tension until a 10-0 fourth quarter run secured the hosts’ victory. Rasho Nesterovic paced Olympiacos with 20 points and 3 blocked shots. Yotam Halperin and Jamon Gordon added 12 apiece with the former dishing 5 assists and the latter grabbing 6 rebounds. Vassilis Spanoulis scored 10 for Olympiacos, which finished the Top 16 as the Group H champ and will face Montepaschi Siena in the Quarterfinal Playoffs. Mantas Kalnietis scored 16 for Zalgiris, which bids farewell to the Euroleague this season with a 1-5 Top 16 record. Trent Plaisted posted 11 points and 10 rebounds in defeat.

Olympiacos came out with an unusual lineup with Andreas Glyniadakis making his first start of the season and Zoran Erceg and Gordon making their third. The visitors took advantage and jumped to an early lead thanks to baskets by Plaisted on the offensive glass and Kalnietis in transition. Glyniadakis opened the hosts’ account from the line. Marty Pocius made it 2-6 before the Reds got going. Kostas Papanikolaou started a fastbreak with a block and Erceg finished it with a layup to tie the game. Milos Teodosic added a triple and Gordon spun through the paint for a pretty layup as part of an 11-0 run to put Olympiacos in control. Kalnietis stopped the Reds’ run with a pair of free throws and soon Marcus Brown landed a three-pointer to carry Zalgiris within 15-11. The visitors’ defense frustrated the home team, leading head coach Dusan Ivkovic to call for Theo Papaloukas from the bench. The momentum stayed with Zalgiris as Boban Marjanovic made it a 1-point game from the line. Spanoulis made a pretty feed to Papaloukas for a layup, but DeJuan Collins kept Kalgiris close before dropping a pass in Marjanovic’s lap for a dunk at the buzzer to make it 19-20 after one quarter.

Halperin drained a triple early in the second quarter, but Zalgiris hung tough and tied the score at 24-24 following a Collins assists for a one-handed Plaisted slam. Paulius Jankunas put the visitors ahead 26-27 with a basket-plus-foul. Pocius lobbed an alley-oop to Kalnietis for a layup to stretch the lead only to see Nesterovic score and draw a foul inside. Halperin drilled an open three from the corner, but Kalnietis drained a jumper to tie the score at 31-31. The hosts started to streamline their offense with Matt Nielsen and Loukas Mavrokefalides pushing the lead to 39-32. Brown and Lucas each scored once more to push the score to 41-34 at halftime.

Toma Delininkaitis hit from downtown and Kalnietis drove for his 10th point as Zalgiris narrowed the gap to 2 early in the second half. Nesterovic dropped in a hook shot to keep the Reds in control. Delininkaitis banked in a jumper and later added a three as the visitors fought back. Marjanovic used all his height to corral an offensive rebound and convert a three-point play to make it 50-47. All the way it was Nesterovic keeping Olympiacos ahead with his mid-range shooting. A no-look Papaloukas pass for a Nesterovic layup gave the latter 10 third-quarter points and the Reds a 56-47 advantage. Marjanovic stretched for a slam before Spanoulis sank a jumper in the lane to make it 58-49 heading into the fourth quarter.

Olympiacos picked up the pace for the final quarter. Kalnietis scored first, but then Spanoulis responded and Papaloukas’s steal led to a Halperin layup and a double-digit lead. Pocius set Plaisted up for a two-handed slam that made it 62-55, but Nesterovic and Spanoulis lifted the Reds back to a comfortable margin. Nesterovic blocked Plaisted twice to draw cheers from the crowd and Gordon lifted the lead to 15 from the line. Nesterovic soon added his 20th point to cap a 10-0 run that essentially sealed the outcome at 76-57 with two minutes remaining.