Valencia hosts Olympiacos in key playoff battle

The Reds are undefeated in seven previous visits to Valencia's La Fonteta.

In a key battle between injury-plagued teams deep into the playoff run, Valencia Basket (13-12) hosts Olympiacos Piraeus (14-11) at La Fonteta in Round 26.

The Reds' favorite road court

Olympiacos has never lost at La Fonteta. The Reds have played in Valencia seven times and always left the court victorious. In its first visit to La Fonteta, Olympiacos downed Valencia 78-90 on January 15, 2004, behind 33 points on near-perfect shooting from Panagiotis Liadelis, who played for Valencia the previous season. In the closest game between the teams in Valencia, the Reds scored a 91-93 victory on January 10, 2020, behind 19 points from Sasha Vezenkov. Last season, Kostas Papanikolaou had 22 points to lead Olympiacos to an 85-92 triumph, keeping the Reds undefeated on arguably their favorite road court.

Oddly enough, Valencia has won four times at Peace and Friendship Stadium, including this season, which has a major impact on this week's game. Valencia beat Olympiacos 56-63, and that 7-point victory is critical in case the Reds win again at La Fonteta. A second victory would put Valencia in a fantastic spot in terms of multiple-way ties involving Olympiacos. In that Round 14 game, Olympiacos scored just 38 points in the opening 30 minutes. That is Olympiacos's lowest-ever score after the first three quarters of a EuroLeague game. This game, however, will be played under different circumstances.

Lack of centers and how to solve it

Both teams have been without their two main centers, who are injured. Olympiacos is missing Nikola Milutinov - and missed Moustapha Fall these last weeks -, and went to the market to find extra answers at center. It signed Filip Petrusev in late November before Milutinov and Fall went down. When both of them got injured, Olympiacos signed Moses Wright, who had a stellar debut in Round 24 against ALBA Berlin with 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. In Round 25, Wright was limited to just 2 points in 17 minutes. Petrusev and Wright combined for 27 points in a Greek League victory this weekend and should be ready for a physical battle on Thursday.

Valencia relied on its roster depth and opted not to sign centers when Brandon Davies and Boubacar Toure went down. Up-and-coming talent Jaime Pradilla is Valencia's only pure center available and is making the most of the opportunity, grabbing 9 rebounds in Valencia's Round 25 road win against ALBA, and getting 15 points in 18 minutes in a Spanish League victory over FC Barcelona. Valencia head coach Alex Mumbru has been creative when it comes to his frontcourt, using shot-blocking ace Nate Reuvers in the middle, moving Damien Inglis to the '5' position and using smaller lineups, making the most out of Semi Ojeleye and Justin Anderson's physicality. In any case, the frontcourt battle should be interesting at La Fonteta.

Sikma returns to Valencia

Even though he has been back many times with ALBA, a nice ovation is expected when Luke Sikma's name is called during the pre-game player introduction. Sikma played for Valencia for two seasons and helped the club win its only Spanish League championship in 2017, just a few weeks after reaching the EuroCup Finals. Only Josep Puerto and Fernando San Emeterio, now as one of the team's assistant coaches, remain with the team from that period. Sikma had a slow start to the season but bounced back recently with extended playing time, getting a double-double in Round 23 against Real Madrid and amassing a PIR of 12 in Round 24 against ALBA.

Sikma is one of six players to wear both teams' jerseys in the EuroLeague this century, along with Matt Nielsen, Dwight Buycks, Erick Green, Oliver Lafayette and Marko Keselj. Nielsen won the 2010 EuroCup with Valencia and Keselj lifted the EuroLeague trophy with Olympiacos in 2012. There are other players, including Liadelis and Vangelis Sklavos, who played for both teams, but not in the EuroLeague. Sikma's matchup against Inglis at both power forward should also be one to follow closely. Inglis has a bigger body and great post kills, Sikma is a better passer and shooter, and both players have high basketball IQs that allow them to find advantages on offense.

With so many centers out, guards should take center stage. Valencia has several elite options at point guard such as Kevin Pangos, Stefan Jovic and Chris Jones, and Olympiacos relies on Thomas Walkup, Isaiah Canaan and Ignas Brazdeikis to speed up the game tempo. Tactically speaking, it should be a one-of-a-kind battle. Tune in on Thursday at 20:30 CET to find out more!