The Reds' forward demonstrated again that he thrives under pressure
Evan Fournier led with words and actions to keep Olympiacos top of the standings
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Regular Season
Round 21 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Studies have shown that there are several kinds of leadership and different types of leaders. In basketball, you may encounter two certain types: those who lead by example through their actions and those who earn the respect of their teammates by being vocal on the floor. Well, Evan Fournier might well be one of the unicorns who fall into both categories.
Taking into account his illustrious career, Fournier may have nothing to prove on the court at the age of 32. Yet, on Tuesday night at Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, the Frenchman showed that Olympiacos Piraeus may have discovered a rare species that particularly enjoys dealing with pressure.
On a night where Olympiacos struggled on defense due to the absence of key guard Thomas Walkup, Nigel Williams-Goss and Shaquielle McKissic stepped up big time when their team needed them most. The former recorded a season-high 19 points to go with career highs of 8 assists and 28 PIR. The latter shot 8 for 11 from the field and scored 22 points.
But the man who flipped the script for the visitors was none other than Fournier. A 0-8 surge to close the third quarter brought Olympiacos within 69-67 heading into the fourth. Yet, Luka Samanic hit the ground running in the closing period, scoring 9 of his team’s first 11 points to restore an 81-75 cushion despite Olympiacos’s attempts to bounce back.
Enter Fournier, who led his team both vocally and by example. “It was about around the six-minute mark [when] Evan came up to us and said ‘it’s time to be leaders’ and for some reason that really resonated with us,” McKissic told EuroLeague TV after the game. “It was down 6 and at that point, I think the tides turned, we really started to believe and he came out and hit some incredible shots. Man, that was a good win.”
Following a timeout, Olympiacos struggled to circulate the ball on offense before Fournier asked for it with just 5 seconds left on the clock. The experienced forward created some space for himself and unleashed one from way deep to bring Olympiacos within 81-78.
Baskonia wouldn’t give up, with back-to-back baskets from Samanic and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot giving them an 85-78 cushion. But Nikola Milutinov scored inside before Fournier nailed his sixth triple of the night, cutting the deficit to 85-83. The switch had been flipped.
Olympiacos may have needed overtime to down Baskonia, but the shift in morale had been achieved and a clear message had already been sent to and received by the hosts.
Despite this not being a dominant performance for the Reds, winning on nights like this is what builds the character of a title-contending team. And head coach Georgios Bartzokas is well aware of that.
“We consider this as one of the most important wins in the season,” he said in the post-game press conference. “We are still first in the rankings, we won the last four out of five games on the road and especially tonight where we didn’t have our best night.”
Having improved its record to 15-6, Olympiacos heads to the Spanish capital to take on Real Madrid as leader of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. The upcoming battle between the two powerhouses will see either Olympiacos or Real get their six-game winning streak snapped. A potential victory at Movistar Arena would send a strong message to the rest of the top-four spot contenders. And in Fournier, Olympiacos has the player who can convey that message through words and actions.