Olympiacos – FC Barcelona Lassa: Defeat in Athens (74-62)

FC Barcelona Lassa have started the Euroleague Top16 with a defeat away at Greek side Oympiacos, losing 74-62 in Athens. The loss came despite a great performance from Ante Tomic who scored 16 points during his man of the match display for the blaugranes.

Both defences showed that they were on top from the early stages. Barça led for the majority of the first period but were pegged back by Papapetrou to make it 14-14 going into the second quarter. Xavi Pascual’s team missed numerous shots from the free throw line to hand the Greeks the advantage, the home side also dominating on the boards. In the first half alone Olympiacos enjoyed 11 offensive rebounds, a stat that helped them build a 39-26 lead at the break.

Shifting dominance

At the beginning of the second half, Barça scored seven unanswered points to give rise to the possibility of a comeback. However, the Greeks fought back with a 10 points in a row to sze control of the game once again. The blaugranes were 18 points down at 52-34 before the final period got under way. The Catalans risked everything in the final quarter but they could only reduce the deficit to some 12 points as Olympiacos ran out 74-62 winners. Xavi Pascual’s team now need to bounce back with a win over Russian side Khimki Moscow next Thursday at at the Palau Blaugrana at 8.45pm CET.