Fourth-quarter spurt gave Olympiacos hard-fought win over ASVEL
After losing at Anadolu Efes Istanbul on Tuesday, pressure mounted on Olympiacos Piraeus to bounce back with a much-needed victory against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in Round 31 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. The hosts received a boost from the fans at Peace And Friendship Stadium, hit the ground running and took a 14-point lead (36-22) with 3:30 left in the second quarter, but ASVEL didn’t give up.
The visitors bounced back in the closing stages of the first half and outscored Olympiacos 11-20 in the third quarter to take a narrow 54-55 cushion into the closing quarter.
“Our third quarter was very bad,” head coach Georgios Bartzokas admitted after the game. “We were very nervous, missing layups and open shots and turning the ball over.”
However, the Greek side reacted in the fourth quarter and shifted the energy from defense to offense to down ASVEL, as Olympiacos forced the French side to 5 turnovers that led to 8 points in the last 4 minutes. De Colo netted a bucket from inside to give his team a 59-61 lead with 6:32 remaining, but Olympiacos responded with an impressive 18-0 run to finish the game off.
“You’re coming to this week and you want a perfect week, especially this time of the year, but we didn’t do our job on Tuesday,” said Alec Peters, who finished the game with 17 points, 7 of which came in the last quarter. “This game was huge for us. I think we all felt it in the first three quarters. We needed to find something and if that’s me to be the spark, so be it.”
Peters and Moustapha Fall were the two Olympiacos players who stood out on Thursday night, with the latter having a complete game on both ends. The Olympiacos center ended the game with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks for a PIR of 25 in just over 23 minutes.
“I never force anything,” Fall said after the game. “I just take what the defense gives me. I do whatever I need to do to help my team.”
With this home victory, Olympiacos is inching closer to securing a spot for the postseason. In their last three games, the Reds will play twice in Belgrade, away at Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade and Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, before they host Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. These are three demanding duels to end the regular season, but Olympiacos has nothing to worry about if it manages to replicate that fourth-quarter defense consistently against its upcoming opponents.