Regular Season
Round 25 of 34
Regular Season
Valencia BasketVBC
8592
Olympiacos PiraeusOLY
Overview
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Valencia vs. Olympiacos: Two teams with the wind in their sails
Artículo
3 Min lectura
This Friday night (20:30 CET), two of the hottest teams in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague come head-to-head at La Fonteta, as Valencia Basket (13-11) hosts Olympiacos Piraeus (17-7) in Round 25. While Valencia has gone 6-1 in its last seven games, rising up to eighth in the standings in the process, Olympiacos has won its last six contests and is currently the league leader.
Yet, when Olympiacos welcomed Valencia to Peace and Friendship Stadium back in Round 6, Alex Mumbru's team caused one of the early surprises in the season by coming away with an 82-83 win, thanks to 3 clutch free throws made by Chris Jones in the final seconds of the game. At La Fonteta, though, it has often been a different story.
Valencia has played host to Olympiacos on six occasions in the EuroLeague, but its record from those six games stands at 0-6. When they have taken on each other in Piraeus, Olympiacos has had the upper hand, but only just, winning four times compared to Valencia's three.
Although Valencia and Olympiacos had differing experiences during last week's domestic cup action, with Valencia falling in the quarterfinals while Olympiacos went on to lift the Greek Cup, a tight game – and an electric atmosphere – is to be expected this Friday night.
For starters, Valencia is slowly starting to welcome back some of its injured players. While Jones and Jared Harper have been available since Round 20, with Victor Claver making his return one week later in Round 21, center and team captain Bojan Dubljevic is expected to play against Olympiacos after missing the last four EuroLeague games with an ankle injury.
The absence of Dubljevic has not been all bad, however, as EuroLeague rookies Jaime Pradilla and Kyle Alexander have had a chance to show what they can do. In the case of Alexander, he is coming off a career-high 16 points and a career-best 17 PIR against Panathinaikos. Pradilla, meanwhile, scored a personal-best 13 points and had a career-best 17 PIR in Round 23 against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv.
In the four games that Dubljevic has missed, the 26-year-old American has averaged 11.3 points and 3.3 rebounds, while the 22-year-old Spaniard is averaging 9.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists. Both Alexander and Pradilla have vastly improved their scoring numbers in this period, as the former averaged 4.4 points per game prior to Round 21 whereas the latter averaged 3.4 points.
Olympiacos, meanwhile, is able to welcome back Kostas Sloukas, who featured in the Greek Cup last week after missing his team's last three EuroLeague games, following an injury picked up in the second quarter against Maccabi in Round 21. Even though the Reds have seen Thomas Walkup step up excellently as their primary playmaker, with the American having a telepathic relationship with star forward Sasha Vezenkov, the return of Sloukas adds yet another dimension to their offense.
Worryingly for Valencia, February MVP of the Month candidate Vezenkov is coming off his best scoring night of the season. In a dominant 60-93 win on the road at ALBA Berlin in Round 24, Vezenkov led Olympiacos with a 28-point, 13-rebound double-double, while he also recorded 1 assist and 1 steal en route to a PIR of 40. He has been on fire this season, and he will be hoping to exact some revenge against Valencia this Friday night.
The Valencia fans have become accustomed to watching their side enjoy success at La Fonteta, with the team having gone 3-1 in its last four home games, but Olympiacos arrives with the joint-best road record in the EuroLeague at 8-4 and it has also won its last three games away from Piraeus. It should be an intriguing contest, so make sure to tune in from 20:30 CET tonight!