Olympiacos did the obvious in Villeurbanne with many protagonists

No matter how many problems it has, no matter how low its psychology, Olympiacos remains a very good team. He already proved this on Friday evening (December 22nd) when he won 85:73 against Villeurbanne in the 16th game of the EuroLeague at the LDLC Arena in Lyon. That didn’t make up for some of his previous defeats as the French are 0/8 at home, but he definitely got the result he needed to feel strong again and buy time.

Piraeus improved to 8-8 (5-4 home and 3-4 away) and will face Alba in Berlin next week away at the Stadium of Peace and Friendship. Alec Peters in the first, Shaquille McKissick in the second and Isaiah Cannon in the third did wonders in the scoring, with Giorgos Bartzokas seeing Brazdeikis, Petrusev and Milutinov in defense, but his team has consistency, good reactions and determination. Mustafa Fal did it all with 2 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 8 blocks in 34 minutes.

The French fell to 2-14 (0-8 home and 2-6 away), lacking Nando de Colo and facing a team that entered the pitch with a knife in its teeth. Timote Luwagou-Cambaro was great in the first half before going down in the second, Paris Lee, Mike Scott and Joffre Lauverne had their moments, but overall ASVEL wasn’t really a threat to Olympiakos, who won the game and bought themselves time.

The MVP

Alec Peters in the first third. Shaquille McKissick finished second. Isaiah Canaan in third place. Mustafa Fal throughout the game. Everyone can choose one and everyone will be happy. The team was MVP on Friday evening (December 22nd), just as Olympiacos Piraeus has been used to in recent years.

The weak link

Youssouf Fal was disbanded by Mustafa Fal and did not help Villerban. He played 14:48, scored 4 points on 2/5 2-point shots, had two rebounds, a steal, a foul and two fouls and learned a good lesson from a better-prepared opponent who didn’t fill his stat sheet with points. but in rebounding, creating and blocking.

The statistics that stood out

Villerban finished the first period with two assists for five errors, Olympiacos had eight final passes and 4/9 three-pointers. At halftime, Piraeus had 85% of two-point shots (11/13) and did not waste a single shot (9/9), by the end of the game Mustafa Fal had equaled his career record in assists (seven) and scored one goal new individual data set in blocks (eight). In the 14th minute, Tomas went for a walkup, Nikola Milutinov played only 62 seconds. 8-9 points through surprise, 17-18 points through opponent’s mistakes, 16-5 points through second chances.

The race

Olympiacos started the game slowly and got eight points from Peters (3/4 twos, 2/2 shots) in the fifth minute to make the score 7-10. There was a lot of traffic in Piraeus, Milutinov received two fouls with 62 seconds left in the game, but Kanan also shot two 3-pointers in a row and maintained the lead until the end of the period, in which Papanikolaou scored from the corner to make it 18-25.

Bartzokas opened the second quarter with McKissick on the floor, the American made a series of threes in the 13th minute to make it 26:33 and the red and white second unit got the job done. Shaq was…a roadrunner, he also fouled out for 31-41, stole the ball and fumbled for 35-47, hit shots for 37-49, which was also the halftime score, and generally dominated in that stretch with his Militancy.

Walkup and Peters got going in the second half and Olympiakos’ lead increased to 18, but a break hurt the Piraeus, allowing Villeurbanne to reduce it to seven. A goal foul by Kanan (52:62) worked like a balm, his own three-pointer made it 52:65, his fourth long shot made it 52:68 and so the red-whites equalized again and had absolute control of the game.

In the 36th minute, Petrusev committed an unsportsmanlike foul on Lee (he left no room for a safe landing), the American made the four and reduced it to 10 (67-77), but again Kanan came forward, wrote 69-81 and cleaned up the laundry three minutes before the finale.

THE REFEREES: Latishevs, Pander, Semes

THE DECADES: 18-25, 37-49, 57-71, 73-85

Villerban (Poceco): Scott 12 (4/6 2-points, 4/4 shots), Lee 16 (1/3 2-points, 3/10 3-points, 5/5 shots, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals ), Kahudi 9 (4/9 shots), Lovern 10 (3/8 2-points, 4/4 shots, 8 rebounds, 3 assists), Luwagu-Kabarro 16 (5/11 2-points, 1/1 3- Pointers, 3/6 shots), Jackson, Egbunu 6 (3/4 two-pointers, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Fahl 4 (2/5 two-pointers), Lighty, Ediage, Yakov

OLYMPIC (Barzokas): Walkup 8 (1/1 2-pointers, 2/5 3-pointers, 3 assists), Williams-Goss 11 (4/7 2-pointers, 3/3 shots, 5 rebounds, 7 assists), Kanan 19 (3/4 2-pointers, 4/7 3-pointers, 1/1 shooting), Larentzakis 8 (1), Fal 2 (1/2 2-points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 8 blocks), Papanikolaou 3 (1 3-pointer, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals), Peters 17 (6/8 2-pointers, 1/3 3-pointers, 2/2 shots, 3 rebounds), Brazdeikis, Peters 17 (6/8 2 points, 1/3 3 points, 2/2 shots, 3 rebounds), Petrusev 4 (3 rebounds), Milutinov, Sikma, McKissick 13 (2/2 2 points, 2/5 3 points, 3/ 3 shots)

Statistics of the Villeurbanne team: 22/43 2-pointers, 4/19 3-pointers, 17/20 shots, 31 rebounds (18 defensive – 13 offensive), 18 assists, 6 steals, 14 fouls

Olympiakos team statistics: 20/30 2-pointers, 11/26 3-pointers, 12/12 shots, 30 rebounds (23 defensive – 7 offensive), 24 assists, 7 steals, 8 blocks, 14 turnovers

The next games of the two teams: On matchday 17, Villeurbanne welcomes Real Madrid (December 28th, 9:00 p.m.), while Olympiakos Piraeus plays against Alba in Berlin (December 29th, 9:00 p.m.).