FC Barcelona 88–96 Olympiacos: First defeat at the Palau

Olympiacos came flying out of the blocks at the Palau, and quickly went into a 0-12 lead after some flawless play. It would be half way through the first quarter before Nikola Mirotic got Barça's first points on the board. Five out of five triples from the Greeks saw them open up a 15-point gap (11-26), however, little by little the hosts began to claw themselves back into the game. Hanga's superb defence allowed his colleagues to get within four points of the visitors by half-time: 47-51.

Olympiacos resist

The dynamics of the second quarter suggested that Barça could turn the result around during the third, but once again it was Olympiacos that started the quicker, and they were soon up by 13 (50-63). A great basket from Bolmaro brought Barça to within nine points (63-72) heading into the last 10 minutes of the game.

Insufficient reaction

Barça reacted again and were level by the 35th minute, however, continuous revisions, stoppages and several unsportsmanlike fouls, gave the Greeks the opportunity to regroup. It was a decisive moment because once Barça had been knocked out of their stride, Olympiacos finished the stronger to take the win.

MATCH DETAILS

FC Barcelona, 88
Olympiacos, 96

FC Barcelona (17+30+16+25): Higgins (7), Calathes (9), Abrines (8), Mirotic (16), Oriola (2) -starters-, Kuric (9), Davies (15), Bolmaro (6), Hanga (10), Smits (2), Martínez (4)

Olympiacos (26+25+21+24): Sloukas (15), Jenkins (8), Papanikolau (11), Jean-Charles (6), Martin (17) -starters-, Printezis (2), McKissic (16), Harrison (5), Spanoulis (2), Vezenkov (10), Ellis (4)

Officials: Sasa Pukl, Milivoje Jovcic and Fernando Rocha