After a disappointing first 20 minutes, Georgios Bartzokas's squad went up several gears in the second half to secure the win.
Improved defense led to Olympiacos’s offensive explosion at ALBA
Artículo
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 17 of 34
Regular Season
ALBA BerlinBER
6794
Olympiacos PiraeusOLY
Overview
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Looking at the stats from Olympiacos Piraeus’s 67-94 victory at ALBA Berlin on Friday night, you might think that a stellar offensive showing was the key to the Reds’ comfortable triumph.
Georgios Bartzokas’s team converted 23 of its 31 two-point attempts, an impressive 74.2%, in addition to adding a solid 10-of-23 (43.5%) from beyond the arc. And that was achieved by no less than 30 assists, a season high, with just 11 turnovers committed. That all adds up to an outstanding collective PIR of 143.
Olympiacos struggled early on
However, the victory was not just a simple case of free-flowing offense from Olympiacos, which in fact struggled to find both rhythm and accuracy in the opening 15 minutes, which saw ALBA race into a 34-23 lead.
Then came the turnaround, and it was sparked by defense. ALBA had committed no turnovers during the first quarter and a half, using its smooth ball rotation to create excellent looks especially from long range. But then things changed, as the Reds forced turnovers in consecutive possessions – one by Nikola Milutinov and the other from Thomas Walkup – and both resulted in Nigel Williams-Goss scoring layups in transition.
A ‘fiery’ discussion at the break
That 20-second burst of action set the tone, and Olympiacos proceeded to really step up its defensive efforts after a feisty locker room confrontation with Coach Bartzokas, as revealed by scoring star Alec Peters.
“Without going into any details, the locker room was pretty fiery at halftime and that’s probably something we needed,” revealed Peters, who again led his team in scoring with 23 points. “We needed to let that anger out about what happened in the first half. We let it out, we got back on the court and we really showed what we can look like in the second half.”
Former ALBA star Luke Sikma, making his first appearance against his former team, agreed. “Our defense really stepped up at the start of the second half," said the veteran forward. “We got some physicality going, got some stops in a row and converted at the other end. That gave us the confidence to go from there.”
There was certainly no lack of confidence about the Reds’ second half performance, which started with a 2-16 run as ALBA was held to just 2 free throws in more than 5 minutes. The same pattern continued throughout the second half, ending with just 24 points after the break for the home team. And perhaps the clearest statistic to encapsulate the game: ALBA finished with 14 turnovers, having committed zero in the first 15 minutes.
Coach Bartzokas was pleased with his team’s reaction, commenting: "We were losing by 3 at halftime and won by 30, so there was probably something we needed to change in our approach. At halftime they had 14 assists, 9 threes, and the pace of the game. We just spent 5 fouls in the first half. [But] our defense was solid in the second half, we ended with 30 assists, scored 90 points, and won by 30 points against a team that last week beat Barcelona, so it’s a win that we really appreciate.”
And it could also be a win to set up Olympiacos for a surge up the standings in the second half of the regular season.