The forward featured at the ‘5’ to cover for the absences of Moustapha Fall and Nikola Milutinov
Alec Peters thrived in Olympiacos’s enforced small-ball system at ALBA
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Georgios Bartzokas saw his frontcourt options run out heading into Olympiacos Piraeus's Round 33 road game against ALBA Berlin. With both Moustapha Fall and Nikola Milutinov sidelined with injuries and Moses Wright having recently returned from long-term absence, Alec Peters was assigned with the tough task to fill in by featuring at center position on Friday night.
Wright did start and netted 8 points in 13:47 on the floor, but it was Peters who carried the team on his shoulders. The Olympiacos forward helped the guests to stretch the floor and thrived in the chaos that was created in ALBA’s defense. Peters went a career-best 8 for 9 from deep, recording a career-high 33 points in just 24:32.
Yet, when asked about his sublime outing at Uber Arena after the game, he demonstrated why his mentality and work ethic have allowed him to compete at the highest level.
“It’s a great game – career high,” Peters told EuroLeague TV. “But I think what’s sticking with me is that I had like 0 rebounds. I know there’s going to be some people that’ll give me sh*t about that. There’s always stuff to get improved on.”
Surprisingly, his PIR of 30 was not the highest for the visitors, with Nigel Williams-Goss pulling off another extraordinary performance as Olympiacos’s main floor manager in Thomas Walkup’s absence. The 30-year-old guard registered a season-high 22 points to go with 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals for a career-high PIR of 32.
More importantly, this win saw the Reds climb back to the top of the standings and end a three-game losing slide.
“I think we were kind of in a little bit of a funk after three losses,” Peters admitted. “It didn’t matter how we did it, we just needed to get it done. We needed to get the win to put us back in first place to control our destiny in the last game.
“It’s just kind of an energy boost for the team going into the playoffs. You’ve spent this whole season grinding, trying to be the best team, trying to show you’re the best team. Being first after the regular season I think is important for the club.”
A victory at home against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in the last round of the campaign will be enough for Olympiacos to clinch the top seed for the second time in three seasons.
Both Fall and Milutinov are expected to return to action next week, but Peters proved on Friday night that he can thrive in a small-ball lineup that offers Olympiacos an ace up its sleeve – a potential curveball for the Reds' opponents in the playoffs.