The tour de force continues: tomorrow in Piraeus, Olimpia plays its third game in five days (tip off time is 20:15 Italian time) which will be followed by another one on Thursday against Zalgiris. The game in Athens is the most complicated one can find in Europe at the moment: Olympiacos has built an impressive market campaign on a group of players already at the highest level and now has a roster that combines quality and depth, practically indifferent to injuries because each position is covered by three players practically of the same level or almost. Coming off a week of victories in home games, two in the league and one in the EuroLeague, Olimpia will measure its growth at the highest European level, although unfortunately without Josh Nebo and therefore with a difference in terms of experience at the center spot clear (Olympiacos has recovered Moustapha Fall). Conversely, Leandro Bolmaro is with the team and should be able to play and give more depth and both offensive and defensive options to the perimeter. In Piraeus, Olimpia has won just twice in its history, a clear sign of how traditionally complicated this game is.
REFEREES – Miguel Angel Perez (Spain), Jakub Zamojski (Poland), Steve Bittner (Germany).
COACH ETTORE MESSINA– “We face one of the biggest favorite to win it all, an Olympiacos team as always well organized by Coach Bartzokas, and very deep, despite some injury problems that they are overcoming like all the EuroLeague teams are trying to do. Controlling the boards and protecting the paint is always crucial to try to win a EuroLeague game especially on the road. For us it is even more important, as a team with many newcomers and many rookies, to step into the Peace and Friendship arena and play the game with the personality of a team confident of what it can achieve and in its future.”
PIPPO RICCI – “We are coming off a week that gave us a lot of confidence and validated the work that we are doing as a team. Now, we face an even more difficult and important week, starting in Athens where first order of merit is to match their intensity and physicality to give ourselves the chance of being able to compete for 40 minutes”
OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS OUTLOOK – Olympiacos, a runner-up two years ago, a Final Four team last season, led a sensational transfer market by bringing back power forward Sasha Vezenkov, the EuroLeague MVP two years ago, and guard Tony Dorsey to Piraeus. Furthermore, they signed the Argentinian point guard Luca Vildoza from Panathinaikos and the French shooter, an Olympic silver medalist in both Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2021, Evan Fournier from the NBA. Last season’s team essentially only lost Isaiah Canaan. A fifth addition, Keenan Evans, is currently unavailable due to an injury. In the first two games, Coach Georgios Bartzokas used Fournier as a forward (10.0 points per game, 40.0 percent from three), Sasha Vezenkov as a power forward (14.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game) and Moses Wright as a center (8.5 points and 6.5 rebounds average). Vildoza, Dorsey, Walkup and Nigel Williams-Goss (7.5 points and 2.5 assists per game) rotated over the two guard spots. Shaquielle McKissic completed the wing rotation. Kostas Papanikolau, the last survivor of the extraordinary group of Greek players of the last 15 years of Olympiacos, now comes off the bench but has almost 17 minutes of playing time anyway. Among the big men, shooter Alec Peters lost minutes to Vezenkov; Filip Petrusev (8.5 points per game) can play both at the power forward and center positions; Nikola Milutinov, back from injury, could make his debut against Olimpia, while Moustapha Fall has already returned.
GAME NOTES – Shavon Shields is 63 points away from reaching 2.000 for his career. His 21-point effort against Paris signaled the 16th time he scored 20+ points for Olimpia in his career. The team is 9-7 in those games.
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