There’s an old saying in basketball: You can only play as well as your opponent allows you to.
But basketball is a strange game. One team’s energy can lift its opponent to another level – or drag it straight into the mud.
That’s exactly what we witnessed in Athens on Friday night. An exceptionally poor Olympiacos gradually dragged Crvena Zvezda down with them, but the Belgrade side somehow managed to protect what had once been a 22-point lead, eventually grinding out a 62–57 victory in Round 10 of the EuroLeague.
Olympiacos and the Bricklaying Festival
Sasha Vezenkov made the net ripple with a three-pointer just a minute and a half into the game. Nothing at that point suggested the extraordinarily poor shooting night Olympiacos were about to endure.
By the final buzzer, they had made just five of their 36 three-point attempts.
To be fair, Zvezda played some tough defense. “Help the helper,” as Chris Jones put it after the game – rotating to cover for teammates, staying active defensively, executing the scouting report and knowing which shots you can live with. And then there was Christian Koloko, “the missing piece of the puzzle,” as Ibon Navarro described him.
Still, Zvezda’s defense can only take so much credit for the bricklaying festival that followed.
We even saw Nikola Milutinov airball a shot from about a meter away, while Evan Fournier somehow managed an airball from three meters out. At this point, we’re not entirely sure how the backboards made it through the night.
“If you’re going to step onto the court, you have to play properly,” said a self-critical Fournier, who was returning from injury.
When a 22-Point Lead Becomes a Problem
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At the other end, Zvezda steadily built their lead behind Jordan Nwora, who finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Turnovers were already an issue, but Olympiacos looked completely disoriented, and the visitors’ advantage kept growing.
It eventually reached 22 points in the third quarter, although signs of nervousness were already creeping into Zvezda’s game. The turnovers kept coming, and once their defensive rebounding began to fall apart as well, it became clear that Olympiacos still had a way back.
Suddenly, a road game against Olympiacos – normally one of the toughest assignments in Europe – had become a game Zvezda simply couldn’t afford to lose.
And with that realization came the panic: poor decisions, stagnant offense and even a reluctance to take responsibility from players who had been excellent until then.
Chris Time
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Olympiacos had already come back from 28 points down against Valencia this season, but this wasn’t going to be another one of those nights.
It was painful viewing for both sets of fans, yet the hosts somehow clawed their way back to 55–57. Koloko then held off the comeback, with a generous helping of luck, before Chris Jones finally settled matters with a three-pointer.
Jones was uncharacteristically sloppy in the first half, turning the ball over four times. But after the break, he regained his composure – and for long stretches, seemed to be the only Zvezda player who had any left.
And then came the Damian Lillard celebration – a pointed tap on the wrist.
“It’s not the first time I’ve hit a shot like that in my career,” he said with a mischievous smile in his postgame interview.
Winning Ugly
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Twenty-two turnovers. Eighteen offensive rebounds allowed.
Those aren’t usually the numbers you associate with a victory over Olympiacos. But as coach Navarro put it, Zvezda “survived.”
The renowned tennis coach Brad Gilbert once wrote a book called Winning Ugly, and this game could hardly have provided a better illustration of the concept.
There’s plenty to criticize about Zvezda’s performance. But when you beat Olympiacos on the road, the result ultimately outweighs everything else.
With six of their next seven games on the road, Zvezda couldn’t have picked a better time for a confidence boost.
