Olympiacos 
Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv Olympiacos
Made/Att
Made/Att
Made/Att
DEF OFF TOT
CM RV
FV AG
Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv
Made/Att
Made/Att
Made/Att
DEF OFF TOT
CM RV
FV AG
Friday at 21:30: Olympiacos - Maccabi
After three straight home EuroLeague wins, The Yellow & Blue visit the team who beat CSKA Moscow on the road. Tarik Black: "We want to win, not only for coach"
Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv arrived in Greece as they’ll face Olympiacos in the EuroLeague’s sixth fixture (Friday, 21:30, live on channel Sport5). The Yellow & Blue, come into the tough away matchup with a six-game winning streak, five of them at Menorah Mivtachim Arena. Sandy Cohen and Angelo Caloiaro didn’t make the trip with the club.
On the other end, the Reds from Piraeus started their EuroLeague season in a mediocre way, but regained confidence on Wednesday after a big away victory over CSKA Moscow.
“This is the first back to back game in EuroLeague for the season. The first thing we want to succeed in is being competitive”, Said Coach Giannis Sfairopoulos before the game against the Greeks. “Olympiacos comes into this game after a big win. They played differently. We analyzed their match, we need to play smart, having a high level of concentration”.
Sfairopoulos, who’s been a part of Olympiacos for seven seasons, talked about facing his ex-team: “This game is not about myself and Olympiacos, it’s about Maccabi and the Greek team.I’m the coach of Maccabi, and we will try to do our best.
“It was two huge wins for us, we are going to get on this plane and focus on what we have to do, we will let the outcome be the outcome”, Said Tarik Black before the flight to Athens. “That is the progress you want to make during the season, we want to keep it going. We rested out well as we now prepare for tomorrow night”.
If Olympiacos has an advantage coming into this game with only participating in one competition: “It is a physical game, but we will be ready to step on the floor and do what we have to do. If we execute and play together, we will make our jobs easier for one another, and that’s what we plan to do”.
“We want to win always no matter what”, Concluded Black on if the team wants to win for their coach who’s facing his ex-club. “We played them last season in Greece, and we got a chance to play them in Tel Aviv with coach so that one may have been for him. At the same time, I’m sure we recognize it is his old club, but we want to win. We don’t want to get to high or too low, too anxious, nervous, or any of that stuff. We want to play basketball and enjoy playing with each other”.
Maccabi dominates Olympiacos 90:65 in Piraeus
The Yellow & Blue win their 7th straight game as they record their highest point total this EuroLeague season. Maccabi heads back home to host Ironi Nahariya (Monday) and Alba Berlin (Thursday)
Scored for Maccabi: Tyler Dorsey (3-5 3P) & Scottie Wilbekin (4-8 3P) 19 points each, Nate Wolters 10 points, Omri Casspi 9 points, Othello Hunter (5 rebounds) & Quincy Acy (8 rebounds) 8 points each.
Olympiacos top scorers: Georgios Printezis 16 points, Brandon Paul (5 rebounds) 12, Vassilis Spanoulis (5 assists) 8 points.
Maccabi opened the game with Scottie Wilbekin, Nate Wolters, Yovel Zoosman, Omri Casspi, and Tarik Black in their starting five.
Vassilis Spanoulis led Olympiacos to a fast 9:2 start before Giannis Sfairopoulos called a quick timeout. The Yellow & Blue responded well with a couple of stops on defense as Omri Casspi rose to the occasion scoring four points to bring the visitors back to the game. Over midway through the first quarter, Ex Maccabi Taylor Rochestie made his debut against his former club, but that didn’t prevent Maccabi from taking the lead as they never looked back from that point. 24:21 advantage after 10 minutes.
With the start of the second quarter, Tyler Dorsey came on to the court, hit a shot and a foul to give Maccabi a 7 point lead. Scottie Wilbekin joined Dorsey as they led the Yellow & Blue to a double-digit advantage. On the other end, Brandon Paul and a Kevin Punter three at the buzzer cut down the visitors lead, 45:40 at the half.
In the third, Olympiacos reduced the lead to 2, but Wilbekin’s four-point play and Wolters from behind the arc gave Maccabi a nine-point advantage. The Yellow & Blue continued to play aggressive on the defensive side of the ball, scoring easy points on transition. At the end of the third, Maccabi scored 23 points allowing only 16, giving them a 68:56 lead going into the final 10 minutes.
Maccabi took full control in the fourth, Othello Hunter scored to make it 70:56. The greeks gave up, as Dorsey and Wilbekin closed it out early, dropping threes and bringing their point total to 19 points each. 90:65 for Maccabi.
