The best Bulgarian basketball player Alexander Vezenkov and his club team Olympiacos defeated the Spanish Real Madrid with 77:71 (15:25, 23:13, 19:16, 20:17) as hosts in the Greek capital Athens in the second match of the quarterfinal series between the two teams in the Euroleague basketball for men. Thus, Vezenkov and his teammates took a 2:0 lead in the series, coming only one victory away from qualifying for the Final Four in Abu Dhabi in May. The game is played to three wins out of five possible games, with the third and possibly the fourth to be held in Madrid.
Alexander Vezenkov was once again the known leader for his team, finishing as the top scorer with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists in 34 minutes on the court.
Real Madrid's basketball players started more steadily and had a 25:15 lead after 10 minutes of play. The guests held the lead almost until the end of the first half, although Olympiacos reduced their deficit with a better second half and took a 38:36 lead after a basket by Vezenkov with 46 seconds remaining. Sergio Llull was accurate from the penalty line twice and tied the score at 38:38 at the break.
A contested third quarter followed, at the end of which Olympiacos led 57:54. In the remaining time, Alexander Vezenkov had key performances to keep the initiative for the hosts.
Evan Fournier scored 17 points and 5 rebounds for the victory of the Greek giants, while Mario Hezona scored 22 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for the guests from Spain.
The Monaco team outplayed the Spanish Barcelona with 92:79 (26:19, 23:21, 31:24, 12:15) and increased its lead in the playoffs to 2:0 success. The hosts led for almost the entire match. At the break, Monaco's lead was 49:40, and before the last part the score was 80:64.
The most productive player for the hosts was Alpha Diallo, who scored 21 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Jabari Parker led Barcelona with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
In the other two quarterfinal pairs of the Euroleague, the Turkish Fenerbahce leads with 2:0 victories against the French Paris, and the result in the series between the Turkish Anadolu Efes and the Greek Panathinaikos is a 1:1 success.
On April 29, Olympiacos will visit Real Madrid, and Fenerbahce - to Paris, while on April 30, Barcelona will host Monaco, and Anadolu Efes will host Panathinaikos.