Madrid sinks Olympiakos for 9th Euroleague title
MADRID — Real Madrid pulled away in the last four minutes to beat Olympiakos 78-59 Sunday to end its 20-year wait for a ninth Euroleague title.
Olympiakos led 19-15 after one quarter, but Madrid held the Greek team to just nine points in the second to take control. It was still a seven-point game in the final quarter when Andres Nocioni hit a 3 with 3:45 left, and Madrid only increased the margin from there.
Guard Jaycee Carroll hit four 3-pointers to lead Madrid with 16 points, while Sergio Llull and Nocioni added 12 each.
Two days after scoring 11 late points to lead Olympiakos past CSKA Moscow in the semis, guard Vassilis Spanoulis finished with three points on 1-of-5 shooting.
Matt Lojeski scored 17 off the bench for Olympiakos.
Madrid lost the previous two Euroleague finals under coach Pablo Laso, to Olympiakos in 2013 and Maccabi last year.
“This team played hard every time, and a third year in a row we were in a final. And the third time was lucky for us,” said Madrid forward Rudy Fernandez. “We played great, amazing defense, and tonight we beat a great team.”
Madrid’s last Euroleague title also came at the expense of Olympiakos in 1995.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
