Vassilis Spanoulis carries Olympiacos Piraeus into the Euroleague Final – FC Barcelona Regal beaten 68-64
In the second semifinal of the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague, Olympiacos Piraeus took on the Spanish giants FC Barcelona Regal and the game turned out to be yet another humdinger. The Greeks were the underdogs going into the
game, but displayed a clinical performance to tough out the Blaugrana 68-64 and set up a final with CSKA Moscow.
The Reds, aiming for their second finals appearance in three seasons, were marshaled by Vassilis Spanoulis, who erupted with 21 points, including four triples, and 6 assists.
Georgios Printezis added 14 points on 5-for-7 from the floor for Olympiacos, who shots nearly 46 percent from the two points range and 9-of-20 from the land of three.
Barca was led by Juan Carlos Navarro with 18 points. The star guard however was poor from beyond the arc, managing only 2-of-8. At the end of the night, it was the poor three point shooting (3-of-19) that came back to haunt the
Spanish. Boni Ndong was the other double figure scorer for Barca with 10 points.
The Reds took over the game early, starting it with an 8-0 run. Barcelona missed their first shots from the field, but after remaining scoreless for four minutes, they started to get going and made the scores 10-6 nearly midway
through the first frame.
Barca continued to struggle on shooting and had to rely on free throws for their shooting. The only thing that kept them in the game was their offensive rebounding. Olympiacos though, still had the edge and went into the second
period with a 17-11 edge.
Barcelona’s shooting struggles continued early in the second but after the first two minutes, they finally found their groove and tied the game at 24, before finally taking a 27-26 lead on a Navarro three. That lead was however
short lived as the Reds came charging back to lead by 33-29 at the interval.
Olympiacos continued to head the game in the third and were ahead by 50-43 deep, before Barca scored four quick points to make it a three point game going into the last 10 minutes of regulation, 50-47.
The Greeks made a solid start to the final quarter and stretched their lead to seven points inside the first minutes. Barca however stayed within a striking range and Navarro’s second and last three pointer of the night made it
a two possession game at 58-54. The next three minutes of the game only saw one scoring shot, which came in the form a Victor Sada jumper, pushing the Spaniards within two, 54-56.
After both teams made good on their next possessions, Olympiacos managed to reel off an 5-0 run to make it 63-56. Barcelona responded with five free throws in a row to again make it a two point game, but Spanoulis made a clutch
three to open up a 66-61 lead for Piraeus.
Ndong drew a foul on the next trip and made both of his free throws to make it a one possession game. Richard Dorsey missed a deuce on other end and Ndong was again fouled. This time he only managed to make one of the two, but
Pete Mickael grabbed the offensive board. Marcelinho Huertas however missed what could have been a go ahead three as Barca remained on 64-66.
On the other end, the ball came again in Richard’s hands and this time he made good on a layup, to put the final dagger into Barca’s hopes.
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