Vujcic Bids a Tearful Farewell, Olympiacos Celebrates a Victory

Translate By Amy Samin

The evening began with an exciting and emotional ceremony in honor of Vujcic, the centerpiece of which was a touching video featuring a dazzling array of blessings and good wishes from former teammates as well as highlights from Vujcic’s career with Maccabi.
Even Moni Fanan made an appearance on the court in order to offer Nikola his good wishes and bestow his traditional kiss.
A teary-eyed Vujcic said a few words of appreciation and thanks.
In the moments before the game began, Nikola and the crowd watched his yellow jersey, number 7, be raised to the rafters in honor of the great center.

Arroyo, White, Burstein, Williams and Fischer opened the game for Maccabi, while Olympiacos started with Childress, Vujcic, Milosevic, Bourousis and Halperin.

The game opened with both teams strong on defense, less so on offense.
Four minutes into the quarter, Olympiacos had a small lead, 8 – 5, until a three pointer by Arroyo and a dunk by Williams put the home team ahead of the visitors, 10 – 9 with 4 minutes left in the quarter.
Maccabi continued to play effectively, and head coach Efy Birenboim was able to utilize almost every player on the team during the course of the quarter.
Maccabi maintained their lead, and after a three pointer by Simmons and a successful drive to the basket by Arroyo, the score stood at 21 – 11 in favor of Maccabi with a minute left in the quarter.
A few isolated points by the Greeks closed the lead to 21 – 14 at the end of the quarter.

The Greeks tried to nibble away at that lead at the start of the second quarter, but were met by a strong Maccabi defense.
Three minutes into the quarter the home team maintained the lead, 24 – 18.
A weakening by Maccabi under the basket and on defensive rebounds enabled Erceg and his teammates to close Maccabi’s lead to 26 – 22 with three minutes left in the half.
When the Greeks put their big man, Schortsanitis, into the game chaos under the Maccabi basket quickly followed.
Green was called for three quick fouls against the intimidating center, and Maccabi’s lead was down to one point: 28 – 27 with a minute and a half left until halftime.
The paralysis that gripped the Maccabi players helped the Greeks take the lead for the first time in the quarter, until Casspi scored two points from the free throw line, tying the game 32 – 32 at the end of the half.

The Greeks continued to feed the ball to Schortsanitis, who had a chain of fouls called in his favor in what looked like a European version of the “Hack-a-Shaq” technique (deliberate fouls against a player known for his poor free throw shooting).
Maccabi’s offense took off again, with a three pointer by Burstein off a brilliant assist by Arroyo giving the home team a 42 – 39 lead, three and a half minutes into the quarter.
But Maccabi lost their momentum, and Olympiacos enjoyed a scoring run of several minutes’ duration, capped by a three pointer by Greer, which gave the Greeks a 46 – 43 lead with just three and a half minutes left in the quarter.
Maccabi was able to tie the game, but a three point shot by Teodosic reinstated a Greek lead, 53 – 50 at the end of the quarter.

Maccabi opened the fourth quarter aggressively, but were met with three point shots from each of their former teammates, Vujcic and Halperin, which brought the score to 59 – 54 two minutes into the quarter.
Renewed strength on offense brought Maccabi back into the game, closing the visitor’s lead to one point until another scoring run by the Greeks opened the gap again.
Points scored by Erceg after an offensive rebound put the score at 68 – 62 in favor of Olympiacos with four minutes left in the game.
But Maccabi pressed hard on defense and stopped the Greeks’ scoring run, while starting one of their own.
Points scored by White brought the game to a 68 – 68 tie with two minutes left in the game.

Maccabi stayed strong on defense in the final minutes of the quarter, but shots by Arroyo and his teammates failed to find the net.
With seconds left in the game, on the Greeks’ final offensive play Greer drove to the basket where he was stopped in his tracks by a magnificent block by Fischer.
With less than a second left in the game, Maccabi was unable to score the game-ending basket and the game ended with the score tied at 68.
Maccabi and Olympiacos were headed for overtime.

The visitors opened the overtime period with a 5 – 0 scoring run, which Maccabi failed to score and made several turnovers.
With the overtime at the half-way mark of two and a half minutes, the score stood at 75 – 70.
Two beautiful plays by Arroyo and a run of 5 points for the point guard brought the score to 77 – 75 with a minute and a half left in overtime.
Arroyo kept Maccabi in the game with another two points scored, and Maccabi closed Olympiacos’ lead to 78 – 77 with thirty seconds remaining on the clock.
A missed shot by Vujcic gave the home team the opportunity to win the game, but Casspi’s shot failed to find the basket.
Childress took charge of the rebound and benefited from a flagrant foul called against Maccabi, which resulted in two points for the Greeks and kept the ball in the hands of Olympiacos.
Maccabi never had another opportunity to score, and the game ended with a Greek victory, 80 – 77.

Scores:

For Maccabi: Arroyo 14 points, White, Batista and Fischer 12 points each, Williams 11 points, Eliyahu and Simmons 5 points each, Burstein 3 points.

For Olympiacos: Childress 16 points, Schortsanitis 12 points, Vujcic and Erceg 11 points each, Bourousis 9 points, Halperin 6 points.

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