Coach Mumbru's side flexed its league-best defense at Peace and Friendship Stadium in Round 14.
Valencia's impressive D forced Olympiacos into 'worst performance' in years
Makale
3 Dk okuma
Regular Season
Round 14 of 34
Regular Season
Olympiacos PiraeusOLY
5663
Valencia BasketVBC
Overview
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After a resounding road win over Olympiacos Piraeus in a defensive bout on Friday night, Valencia Basket head coach Alex Mumbru was asked one question: If he was told before the game his team would score 63 points and win, would he believe it?
"No, I would not. That is the truth", Mumbru replied.
"We played a great team, great coach, great everything. We knew we came here to struggle. We had to be ready to struggle against a great team, against a Final Four team."
Valencia was fantastic on defense
And great defense they did play, not only by the eye test but proven by sheer facts and numbers as Olympiacos's usual offense was ground to a halt.
After falling behind 12-5 in the first quarter, Valencia finished the quarter on a 3-9 run before opening the second with a 1-6 spurt. From there, the visitors continued to harass the hosts' offense, slowly increasing the lead and taking a 26-35 advantage into the halftime break.
Olympiacos was held to 45.5% on twos and 26.7% on threes in the first 20 minutes, and was forced into 9 turnovers after entering this game committing just 11.3 per game.
"We got off to a slow start defensively, but we kind of figured it out," explained Valencia playmaker Chris Jones. "We got the stops we needed and kept them off the offensive rebounds."
That was one of the big keys in the first half for Valencia, as it held Olympiacos to just 3 offensive rebounds on 20 chances.
But the first half ended up being just the start of Valencia's defensive showcase.
"Our plan for the game was to play hard defense. It gave us confidence to continue in the second half," Mumbru commented.
A strong start to the second half
Valencia went on to allow just 12 points in the third quarter, forcing the Reds to record an all-time low in one statistic. Having scored just 38 points in the first 30 minutes, that is Olympiacos's lowest-ever score after the first three quarters of a EuroLeague game.
"It is one of the worst performances we've had in the last three years," Olympiacos head coach Georgios Bartzokas stated after the loss.
Olympiacos did manage to start a rally in the fourth, getting within 5 points on two occasions, but never closer. This time, it was not just its defense that kept Valencia in front.
"We knew we are both pretty good defensively. So, it wasn't just about the stops but who will execute better and get the points down the stretch," Jones noted.
With the hosts cutting it to 50-55, Victor Claver nailed a huge triple. Then, after Kostas Papanikolaou answered right back with one of his own, Chris Jones beat the shot-clock buzzer with a runner that made it 53-60 with a minute to go. From there, Olympiacos never recovered.
When all was said and done, Valencia held Olympiacos to 56 points in Piraeus, a week after holding LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne to 55 points at its new LDLC Arena.
"I am happy for my players that they believed that we can win if we play hard defense," Mumbru concluded.
It secured Valencia its third straight win and an 8-6 record ahead of a daunting double-round week, in which it will play home games against two of the four best offenses in the EuroLeague: Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade (8-6) and Virtus Segafredo Bologna (10-4).