


Olympiacos Piraeus showed its trademark resilience as the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague leader twice bounced back from a 15-point deficit in the first half to overpower Valencia Basket 85-92 at La Fonteta on Friday night. This victory allowed it to stay in the competition’s pole position.
Valencia, who stunned its more heralded opponent 82-83 in the reverse fixture in Greece, looked capable of completing a regular-season sweep over the Reds, but instead it fell to its seventh successive home loss against Olympiacos.
The hosts led throughout the first half after firing on all cylinders from three-point range, but they looked out of their depth after Olympiacos shored up its defensive leaks to win the third quarter 13-30.
The aggressive approach employed by Olympiacos on defense also enabled it to carve out a barrage of uncontested shots on offense. The Reds ended the game shooting 20-of-26 from two-point range and 13-of-28 from beyond the arc, while Valencia’s percentages dropped dramatically in a flat second-half display. In the game as a whole, Valencia went 12-of-25 from two-point range and 16-of-38 from three.
Just as crucially, Olympiakos racked up 10 more defensive rebounds, 18-28, which gave it plenty of extra possessions, while the two teams posted 5 offensive boards each.
Olympiakcos committed 20 turnovers, but it compensated for slack caretaking of the ball with an impressive 25 assists, the bulk of which came in a one-sided second half, when Valencia had clearly run out of steam.