Fenerbahce used the backing of the “home crowd” to defeat Olympiacos 80-64 and win their first Euroleague Title in club history.
After a big win over CSKA Moscow in Friday’s semi-final, Olympiacos had their toughest task yet in this year’s Euroleague, matching up against Fenerbahce in Konstantinoupoli for the 2017 Title. The “hosts” came into the match as slight favorites and from the tip-off, took control of the game.
Fenerbahce were clearly the better team in the first half and quickly built an early double digit lead, but despite Olympiacos’ mediocre display, the Erythrolefki managed to stay in the game going into halftime only down by five points (39-34).
Up until the midway point in the third quarter, Olympiacos remained within striking distance trailing Fener by only a couple of possessions. However, from that point on it was ALL Fenerbahce.
The Turkish club’s stellar defense did not allow Olympiacos to create an attack while on the offensive end, Fenerbahce caught fire and increased their lead back to double digits. Datome’s successful 3-pointer near the end of the third quarter put Fenerbahce ahead by 13-points and killed off any hopes of an Olympiacos comeback.
The Erythrolefki were clearly not the team that beat CSKA Moscow and as Fenerbahce grew in confidence both on the court and with the help of the home crowd, the Turks ran away with the game. Fenerbahce ended up cruising to an 80-64 victory and win their first Euroleague title in club history.
Only Birch and Milutinov finished with double digits for Olympiacos with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Spanoulis finished with 9 points and 8 assists while Printezis added only seven points. Papanikolaou never found his stroke ending the game with three points. Olympiacos went a disappointing 14/35 from 2-point range and 9/26 from 3-point range.
Fenerbahce, who went an impressive 13/25 from 3-point range had Bogdanovic and Kalinic as their leading scorers with 17 points each. Udoh was named MVP of the Final-4 with 10 points and 9 rebounds.
Despite the loss, Olympiacos will be proud of their season and reaching their FOURTH Euroleague final in six years, having earned the recognition as one of the powerhouses in European basketball.