“Olympiakos” sprinted at the decisive moment, leaving Jokubaitis and “Barcelona” without the final four

The Greek club won the quarter-final series 3-2 and became only the second club in EuroLeague history to win the decisive fifth game of the series away from home. Until tonight, all 19 such matches were won by the home team, but this streak was first stopped by Fenerbahçe, coached by Šarūnas Jasikevicius, by Monaco.

Olympiakos will face Real Madrid in the semi-finals, a repeat of last year’s final. The final four of the Euroleague will take place on May 24-26 in Berlin. “Panathinaikos” and “Fenerbahçe” will compete in the next semi-final.

“Barcelona” will not play in the final four of the Euroleague for the first time in the last four seasons – it was brought to this stage three times in a row by Š. Jasikevicius. The Piraeus team will compete for the title for the third year in a row.

R. Jokubaitis spent just 6 minutes on the court, during which he scored 2 points (1/2 doubles, 0/1 triples), rebounded the ball, made two assists and collected 3 utility points. In the second half of the match, the defender did not appear on the field.

I. Brazdeikis was not registered for the match.

The Catalans started the match better and tried to break away several times – 18:9, 38:30 and were ahead for most of the match. Olympiakos took the lead for the first time only halfway through the fourth quarter when Shaquielle McKissic hit from a distance (49:47).

Neruk Sh. McKissic scored five more points in a row and pushed the Greeks even further – 54-49. On the other side of the field, Jan Vesely committed an offensive foul, and Kostas Papanikolaou deepened Barcelona’s hole – 57:49.

Barcelona did not put their weapons together – they answered with five unanswered points (54:57) and had a chance to tie the score, but Nicolas Laprovittola made a mistake, and Nikola Milutinov scored from above – 59:54. The victory was soon secured by Isaiah Canaan, who took penalties.

“Olympiakos” to victory without Sh. Center N. Milutinov led McKissico with a double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 26 assists.

Barcelona: N. Laprovittola 17, A. Abrines 13, W. Hernangomez 9, J. Vesely and R. Rubio 6 each.

Olympiakos: Sh. McKissic 12, K. Papanikolaou 11, N. Milutinov 10 (10 rebounds), N. Williams-Goss 8.