Character was not enough for Barça in Athens as the blaugranes went down to a 73-66 defeat against Olympiacos in Athens in the Euroleague. With top spot in the regular season already guaranteed, Saras Jasikevicius' team were unable to claim victory number 23 in Europe with just one more game remaining.
All in
Barça started well in the first quarter with Calathes, Mirotic and Sanli all switched on to help Saras' team to a 19-13 lead at the end of the period. Some strong offensive rebounding led to the visitors being able to sustain their lead until half time at 44-30.
In the second half a basket from Mirotic saw the blaugranes lead stretch to nine points but the Greeks did not throw in the towel and a devastating third quarter saw Olympiacos go into the final period three points up.
The game was still in the balance in the fourth quarter but the home side held off the blaugranes to take the win in the penultimate round of fixture in the group stage of the Euroleague.
MATCH STATS
Olympiacos, 73
Barça, 66
Olympiacos: Walkup (6), Jean-Charles (7), Dorsey (9), Papanikolau (6) Group Vezenkov (13) -starting five- McKissic (20), Hassan Martin (8), Lountzis (-), Larentzakis (-) Group Printezis (4)
Barça: Calathes (7), Caicedo (2), Abrines (6), Mirotic (11) Group Sanli (13) -starting five- Kuric (6), Sergi Martínez (2), Smits (6), Hayes (6), Nnaji (2), Laprovittola (3) Group Exum (2)
