Kalinic-Dobric duo forces Olympiacos to their first EuroLeague home loss / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Panagiotis Moschandreou/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Panagiotis Moschandreou/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade (8-12) prevailed Olympiacos Piraeus(12-8) 76-72(22-21, 15-15, 19-16, 20-20) at Peace and Friendship Stadium. They skidded Oly's 9-game winning streak at home.

Player of the Game EFF 18 Ognjen Dobric Points 14 Accuracy 6-7 Rebounds 1 Assists 4

Coach Radonjic's charges were winless in four previous trips to Piraeus, while Olympiacos remain winless in 2022, losing 3rd straight EuroLeague match.

The game went neck-on-neck in the first three quarters (52-56), so everything depended on the last 10 minutes performance.

After Nikola Kalinic and Nikola Ivanovic's two-point baskets, Crvena Zvezda created the biggest lead of the game - 8 points (65-57) with 5:20 to go.

Though, Olympiacos were not ready to give up. Giannoulis Larentzakis nailed a trey, Kostas Sloukas converted a 2+1 play, Sasha Vezenkov added a duo and Oly were only down by 1 point (65-66) with 3:30 left on the clock.

Both teams exchanged with successful attacks, while Aaron White and Luka Mitrovic contributed with the two-point buckets and Zvezda were in front by 5 (72-67).

Ognjen Dobric added a dunk on a fast-break attack and the Serbian club was leading comfortably (74-67) with 47 seconds to play. The rest of the seconds did not bring a major intrigue.

Ognjen Dobric accumulated 14 points (5/6 2PT, 1/1 3PT, 1/1 FT), 1 rebound, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 18 PIR for Zvezda.

Nikola Kalinic aided him with 12 points (3/10 2PT, 2/3 3PT, 0/2 FT), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 turnovers, and 7 PIR.

"It's always a pleasure to play against big teams, like Olympiacos. I think we played well, we fought, we played a physical game and got the win. We had some hard losses lately. Especially, I was missing some important shots, free throws, and everything, but managed to bounce back, finally. We keep fighting for the playoffs," said Kalinic post-game.

Sasha Vezenkov led the route for the Greeks, registering 20 points (3/6 2PT, 4/7 3PT, 2/2 FT), 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, and 24 PIR.

"I would like to congratulate Red Star, they had a solid defensive and offensive game for 40 minutes. Of course, they took advantage of the fact we missed a lot of players right now, injured players, COVID cases. We are playing in an empty gym as well.

I'm not complaining, and I respect the government's decisions, but the circumstances are not the same for everybody. We played against Fenerbahce in a full gym, also in Tel Aviv, and here we played in an empty gym," commented Georgios Bartzokas.

Shaquielle McKissic and Georgios Printezis missed the game for Olympiacos.

Zvezda: Ognjen Dobric 14 (4 AST), Nikola Kalinic 12 (5 REB, 4 AST), Nate Wolters 9 (4 REB).

Olympiacos: Sasha Vezenkov 20 (8 REB), Kostas Sloukas 18 (4 REB, 4 AST), Moustapha Fall 9.

Highlights

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