Olympiakos fans expected a fight at SEF and saw a fight on Thursday evening (11/16), in which Giorgos Bartzokas’ team won against Erythros Asteras (88-83) on matchday 9 of the EuroLeague.

The Piraeus (3-2 home and 2-2 away) rose to 5-4, with another great night featuring Alec Peters (career-high in the competition with 28 points), Mustafa Fal (career-high with 14 rebounds) and Isaiah Kanan (4th). /7 3-point shots). Tomas Walkup organized but was ineffective in execution, Kostas Papanikolaou stepped up in the second half and now everyone is waiting for the return of Nigel Williams-Goss (in about four weeks), Shaquille McKissick and Nikola Milutinov to open the rotation and To catch my breath into a more manageable schedule for next month.

Red Star fell to 3-6 (3-1 home and 0-5 away), which posed a big problem in terms of lineup as Sabz Napier was not in the squad and Milos Teodosic placed more emphasis on goal. The leader was Nemania Nedovic, who scored 26 points from 20 shots (4/8 two-pointers, 5/12 three-pointers) and from then on Yannis Sfairopoulos looked for another player but never found him.

The MVP

Alec Peters heard and read a lot last year. When some people said he was a good player, he was just patient. And this year he shows his class almost every evening. Against Red Star he scored a career-high 28 points (5/7 2-pointers, 4/8 3-pointers, 6/6 shots), filled his stats with four rebounds, three assists, one steal, he was simply magical.

The weak link

Yiannis Sfeiropoulos expected more from some of his players, but the one who definitely played well below his potential was Rokas Giedraitis. The Lithuanian didn’t help in any area of ​​the game and missed a three-pointer at 80-75 as Nedovic and Teodosic tried to carry Red Star for most of the forty minutes.

The statistics that stood out

Asteras finished the first period with 5/9 three-pointers, while Nemanja Nedovic had 11 of his team’s 23 points. At halftime the assists were 14-6, the errors were 5-3, but also the points in the surprise were 0-7. In the third period the Serbs only gave one last pass and in the 30th minute they shot 40.7% the two pointers. In the final, Olympiacos had a lot of missed shots for another game, but had an amazing assist/error ratio, and when two players set career records, you just can’t lose a game like that at home. An improbable 15/33 on two-point and three-point shots from Red Star, who surprisingly took the points (16-2), but that’s all.

The race

Barzokas’ five didn’t change (Wokap, Kanan, Papanikolaou, Peters, Fal), but Olympiakos started the game rather cautiously. He made three errors in five minutes and had five shots against Asteras 10 (8-10), but he found a rhythm in the attack and with Kanan making the outside throws, he ended the quarter with his biggest problem at 20-23 Nedovic had 11 points.

The situation did not change in the second third. Olympiacos continued to chase the Serbs, Sikma played the role of second center, Mitrovic gave Asteras a big boost, but Lorentzakis followed suit, leading to a 10-0 run for the home team and a 41-39 lead. Fal had no opponent in the field (12 points, 6/6 two-point shots, 6 rebounds) and at halftime there was a relative balance between both teams (45-44).

Fahl and Peters came into the second half brilliantly, the latter hitting a three-pointer from the right corner in the 22nd minute to make it 50:44, and Kanan had his third long shot to make it 55:47. He scored a fourth goal to make it 61:50, with Walkup adding eight assists and SEF also playing its own role in the development of the game. Astera’s problem continued to be in the design, Teodosic scored but didn’t manage it and the 64:53 in the third period was fair.

With Walkup sitting on the bench with three fouls, Lountzis hit a three-pointer from the corner to make it 79-69, Papanikolaou followed to make it 72-61 and Olympiacos seemed ready to decide the game. He went to +15 (78-63) but accepted a 2-12, with Red Star reduced to five but stood and had a bit of luck. Giedraitis missed a free three-pointer, allowing Peters to take the lead, make the shots and clean up the laundry without further incident.

THE REFEREES: Latishevs, Travitsky, Radojkovic

THE DECADES: 20-23, 45-44, 64-53, 88-83

OLYMPIC (Bartzokas): Walkap 6 (1/8 shots, 3/6 shots, 5 rebounds, 8 assists), Kanan 15 (4/7 threes, 3 rebounds), Lountzis 3 (1), Larentzakis 1), Fal 14 (7 /10 2-points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks), Papanikolaou 11 (2 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, 5 assists), Brazdeikis 2, Peters 28 (5/7 2-pointers, 4/8 3-pointers , 6/6 shots, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Sikma 2

Red Star (Sfairopoulos): Lazarević, Teodosic 15 (4/7 three-pointers, 3/4 shots, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), Davidovac 5 (1), Mitrovic 8 (5 rebounds, 2 assists), Tobi 7 (1), Boloboi 7 (1 3-pointer, 4 rebounds, 2 steals), Ilic, Nedovic 26 (4/8 2-pointers, 5/12 3-pointers, 3/3 shots), Giedraitis 6 (0/5 3-pointers), Dos Santos 9 (3/4 3-pointers, 3 assists, 3 fouls)

Olympiakos team statistics: 17/30 2-pointers, 13/30 3-pointers, 15/24 shots, 39 rebounds (27 defensive – 12 offensive), 26 assists, 3 steals, 5 blocks, 11 turnovers, 18 fouls

Red Star’s team statistics: 15/33 2-pointers, 15/33 3-pointers, 8/11 shots, 31 rebounds (20 defensive – 11 offensive), 14 assists, 7 steals, 2 blocks, 10 turnovers, 25 fouls

The next games of the two teams: On matchday 10, Olympiacos Piraeus hosts Zalgiris Kaunas (November 24th, 9:15 p.m.), while Red Star plays against Armani Milano in Belgrade (November 24th, 9:30 p.m.).