Olympiakos fights back to win in Istanbul
Olympiakos returned once again victorious from a trip to Istanbul as it came from behind to defeat Fenerbahce Ulker 78-73 on Friday for the Euroleague.
The result keeps the Reds in the running for the second spot of the group that secures home advantage in the playoffs, but it will all depend on its last group game against Khimki at home next Thursday. Victory will definitely mean Olympiakos will make the quarterfinals.
The Reds owe their victory over Fenerbache to a good finish to the match in the last six minutes, as in the rest of the game they appeared a shadow of their usual selves, trailing for long spells to a Turkish side that had nothing to play for.
Yet with the score at 69-61, six minutes from the end, Olympiakos regrouped. It improved considerably in defense and in attack and scored a partial 17-4 score to snatch victory in the very city where it was crowned European champion less than a year ago.
Costas Papanikolaou (16 points and four out of four three pointers) and Vassilis Spanoulis (14 points) led the scoring for Olympiakos, who also had Kyle Hines doing a great job in defense in the last few minutes.
