Despite missing key contributors, the Reds reeled off two wins to climb in the standings.
Olympiacos overcame injuries to complete perfect double-round week
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Following its 90-85 road win at Real Madrid in Round 23, things looked anything but great for Olympiacos Piraeus. The Reds dropped to a 12-11 record, but most importantly they were forced to add Filip Petrusev and Giannoulis Larentzakis to an injury list that already included Nigel Williams-Goss, who missed the game in Madrid, as well as centers Moustapha Fall and Nikola Milutinov.
Coming into the double-round week, Olympiacos had no available center, with Luke Sikma being the only option to feature at ‘5’. While Larentzakis and Williams-Goss managed to shake off fitness issues, Petrusev would miss out on Tuesday’s duel against ALBA Berlin. The Greek side had just landed emergency signing Moses Wright, who averaged 26.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in five appearances in the Turkish league but had no Turkish Airlines EuroLeague experience. In fact, the rookie had only participated in one team practice before making his debut and struggled in the first half against ALBA, when he didn’t record a single point.
“In the first half I came out a little shaky, but in the second half, [after I] went to the locker room and gathered myself, I came out to do what I was supposed to do,” Wright said after the game.
And that’s exactly what the new Olympiacos signing did. Wright stepped up his game and netted 15 second-half points, having gone 7-for-9 from inside the arc. Along with a red-hot Isaiah Canaan, who scored a career-high 31 points, including a club-record 9 three-pointers made, they led Olympiacos to a 101-87 victory.
Having provided the team with a boost in morale, many may have expected Wright and Canaan to build on their momentum and come to the fore again against FC Bayern Munich. However, the two men scored a combined 2 points, with Canaan failing to register a single point in a game for the first time this season. Enter Thomas Walkup and Filip Petrusev. The two Olympiacos players were excellent throughout the second half and combined for 30 points to lead their team to a narrow 72-76 victory at BMW Park.
“I consider this win as one of the most important wins of the season,” head coach Georgios Bartzokas said after the game.
Olympiacos didn’t make a single turnover after the break and its defense made the difference in the crucial third quarter, where it kept Bayern to 13 points.
“Our defense [was the key to the win],” Walkup noted. “They scored 72 points, that’s a great number. It was our toughness also. Our fans here really brought it. Great showing for an away game, but most of all it was our toughness, fighting through, especially in the second half.”
Last season, Olympiacos may have boasted the EuroLeague MVP, Sasha Vezenkov, but what took the team all the way to the championship game was its ability to produce new heroes in each game. This term, Canaan and Alec Peters have stepped up their game, but injuries haven’t allowed the team to gel up. Yet, the last two games saw different players make the difference.
One of them was Ignas Brazdeikis, who pulled off his best performances for the Greek side so far and netted 11 points in each of those duels. The Olympiacos guard hit the ground running and netted half of his team’s 18 points in the first quarter against Bayern by completing three hard-fought three-point plays.
“We’ve got a lot of new pieces and some injuries,” Brazdeikis noted. “We just need to learn about each other and support everybody who’s on the court doing well and I think it’ll end up being good for us.”
Indeed, following these two important wins, the team’s morale is currently sky-high heading into the last stretch of the season. Olympiacos will now travel to Spain, where it will take on another playoff contender, Valencia Basket, in search of revenge after its 56-63 defeat in Piraeus back in Round 14. Milutinov will be sidelined for that game too, while Fall is expected to be questionable. However, Olympiacos proved this week that it boasts the squad depth to generate new protagonists.