2019-20Regular SeasonRound 25
Olympiacos Piraeus 77
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 68
February 20, 2020 CET: 18:15
Local time: 19:15 PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM

Short-handed Olympiacos downs ASVEL

Olympiacos Piraeus grabbed its fourth consecutive home win by downing LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 77-68 at Peace and Friendship Stadium on Thursday. Olympiacos improved to 11-14 in the standings while ASVEL dropped to 9-16 with its seventh straight road loss. Sasha Vezenkov led the winners with 15 points, Octavius Ellis added 13 and Georgios Printezis and Wade Baldwin IV each scored 11 for Olympiacos. Charles Kahudi paced ASVEL with 14 points, Jordan Taylor added 12 and Livio Jean-Charles 11 for the visitors. Theo Maledon and Jean-Charles helped ASVEL get an early 8-14 lead. Nikola Milutinov and Vezenkov rescued Olympiacos, but Kahudi hit a triple that gave the visitors a 20-21 edge after 10 minutes. Ellis and Alexandros Nikolaidis stepped up for the hosts, joining forces with Printezis to make it a double-digit game, 43-33, at halftime. Little changed after the break, as Kostas Papanikolaou and Vezenkov kept Olympiacos in control, 61-50, after 30 minutes and kept a safe margin until the final buzzer.

Papanikolaou got Olympiacos going with an acrobatic driving layup and Vezenkov soon added a three-pointer for a 5-2 lead. Maledon answered from downtown and fed Kahudi for a layup in a 0-7 run that gave ASVEL its first lead, 5-9. Milutinov stepped up for the hosts, but ASVEL also found its big men, Jean-Charles and Tonye Jekiri, to boost its margin to 8-14. Milutinov took over with a put-back dunk and followed Vezenkov's coast-to-coast layup with a close basket for a 14-16 Olympiacos deficit. Maledon hit a floater, but Milutinov and Vezenkov helped Olympiacos regain the lead, 20-18. Kahudi struck from beyond the arc to fix the score at 20-21 after 10 minutes. Kahudi banked in a jumper early in the second quarter, but Ellis and Printezis provided another lead change, 26-25. Papanikolaou swished a triple and Nikolaidis scored off a steal, igniting the crowd at 31-26. Payne dunked but ASVEL kept sending opponents to the foul line, allowing Olympiacos to get a 36-29 lead. Taylor buried a running hook, but Ellis and Nikolaidis fueled a 7-0 run highlighted by Printezis's layup to get a double-digit margin, 43-33, at halftime.

Jekiri tried to change things with a jumper and a layup soon after the break, but Papanikolaou and Vezenkov each struck from downtown to boost Olympiacos's lead to 51-37. Jean-Charles stepped up with a put-back layup and a turnaround jumper. Ellis dunked in traffic to restore a 53-41 Olympiacos lead. Ismael Bako and Taylor each scored around the basket, but they didn't find much help around. Meanwhile, Printezis and Vezenkov buried one apiece from beyond the arc to break the game open, 61-45. Kahudi joined the three-point shootout and Taylor added a driving layup to give ASVEL hope, 61-50, after 30 minutes. Baldwin hit a jumper early in the fourth quarter and erased Antoine Diot's triple with a layup-plus-foul for a 66-53 Olympiacos lead with 7 minutes left. Taylor answered with his own three-point play and Maledon added a jumper, but Ellis singlehandedly kept Olympiacos way ahead, 72-61. ASVEL kept trying, but Olympiacos had cruised to a well-deserved win.

Pivotal performer

Sasha Vezenkov was Olympiacos's leader tonight, playing with great consistency and being there every time his team needed him. He finished the game with 15 points on 3-of-5 three-point shooting and 4-of-4 free throws plus 7 rebounds, a steal and 2 fouls drawn for a PIR of 18.

Game-changing moment

ASVEL managed to get within 36-31 on a big basket by Jordan Taylor, but Olympiacos made the most out of being in the foul bonus, attacking the rim for easy points. Georgios Printezis, Octavius Ellis and Nikolaidis combined for all the points in a 7-0 run that gave Olympiacos its first double-digit lead, 43-31, near halftime. Olympiacos never looked back after that.

Stellar stat

Olympiacos drew 30 fouls, tying the most this season. Olympiacos had already drawn 30 fouls against Khimki Moscow Region on December 18, 2019, and two other teams - KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz and Zalgiris Kaunas - did so this season, too. That allowed Olympiacos to take 36 free throw attempts compared to ASVEL's 9, which, added to the visitors' poor three-point shooting (7-of-24, 29.2%) made the difference in the game.

Did you notice?

It was ASVEL's first road game against Olympiacos since 2004. It could not break its curse at Peace and Friendship Stadium, however. Since the teams' first matchup in the 1999 EuroLeague quarterfinal playoffs, ASVEL has played six road games against Olympiacos... and lost them all.

Next game

Both teams return to Euroleague action next week. Olympiacos visits Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv on Thursday, February 27. ASVEL visits Khimki Moscow Region the following evening.

Thursday, February 20, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: ROCHA, FERNANDO; PERUGA, CARLOS; PANTHER, ANNE
Attendance: 7233
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus20231816
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne21121718
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus20436177
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne21335068
Olympiacos Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 ROCHESTIE, TAYLOR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 BALDWIN IV, WADE 31:42 11 2/7 0/1 7/11 2 5 7 5   5     3 8 13
5 NIKOLAIDIS, ALEXANDROS 17:02 6 1/1 0/1 4/4   5 5   4 4     1 4 13
6 KONIARIS, ANTONIOS 13:39 4   1/1 1/2   1 1   2       5 1 2
11 MILUTINOV, NIKOLA 9:49 9 3/3   3/3 1 1 2 1         1 2 13
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA 27:52 15 1/4 3/5 4/4 2 5 7   1       2 2 18
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 35:57 11 3/10 1/1 2/4 1 2 3 5   2     1 3 10
16 PAPANIKOLAOU, KOSTAS 35:43 8 1/2 2/7 0/2 1 2 3 6 2 2     2 5 12
20 POKUSEVSKI, ALEKSEJ 1:49   0/1               1     1 1 -2
32 ELLIS, OCTAVIUS 26:27 13 4/5   5/6 1 4 5   1 1 1   2 4 19
Team             3 3               3
Totals 200:00 77 15/33 7/16 26/36 8 28 36 17 10 15 1 0 18 30 101
        45.5% 43.8% 72.2%
Head coach: BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 TAYLOR, JORDAN 28:21 12 5/10 0/3 2/3 2   2 4   3     4 5 7
3 JEKIRI, TONYE 25:07 9 4/7   1/2 4 4 8   2 1     1 1 14
5 KAHUDI, CHARLES 25:10 14 3/6 2/4 2/2   1 1 1 1 1     4 3 10
6 MALEDON, THEO 18:02 7 2/5 1/2     4 4 3   1     4 1 6
9 LOMAZS, RIHARDS 8:05     0/1                   1   -2
11 GALLIOU, CHARLES 2:10                              
12 NOUA, AMINE 12:36 3 0/1 1/3   1   1 1 1       1   2
17 JEAN-CHARLES, LIVIO 26:58 11 3/6 1/3 2/2 4 4 8     2   1 4 2 9
19 DIOT, ANTOINE 21:28 3 0/2 1/4     2 2 4 2 5     3 2  
21 BAKO, ISMAEL 8:01 2 1/2     2 1 3   1       3 4 6
32 STRAZEL, MATTHEW 14:48 3 0/2 1/3     1 1   1 1     2   -2
33 PAYNE, ADREIAN 9:14 4 2/3 0/1     1 1   1 1     3    
Team             5 5               5
Totals 200:00 68 20/44 7/24 7/9 13 23 36 13 9 15 0 1 30 18 55
        45.5% 29.2% 77.8%
Head coach: MITROVIC, ZVEZDAN

Head Coaches

BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"I would like to congratulate the whole club on this win. Players, fans, coaches... everybody. From my perspective, it was a very important win. Under these circumstances, with the problems that we had, we needed to play good defense for the second game in a row because obviously, we have a lack of creation right now and we need to change our mentality a little bit on offense; how we attack, how we create and how we play the game. I would like to wish Nikola (Milutinov) good luck. We are expecting the MRI results to see what is happening. Let's hope that it is not going to be something serious."
MITROVIC, ZVEZDAN
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"First of all, congratulations to Olympiacos. It is not easy to play with... I don't know how many players they played without tonight. It was a tough game and I think that the team really showed great energy and a great effort tonight. After our last week, three games in a row (in the French Leaders Cup) in three days, we came here and had some chance, but played, especially on defense, not very smart. We made a lot of fouls. You see that Olympiacos shot 36 free throws and we only shot 9. We played really bad defense and this is one of the keys why we lost tonight. I wish all the players, Milutinov and all the guys, to be back on the court fast and quick."

Players

VEZENKOV, SASHA
Olympiacos Piraeus
"It was a very tough game. We didn't have a lot of our key players. We have a lot of injuries and a lot of sick guys and, first of all, I want to dedicate this win to them. It was a very tough couple of days for us but we fought. We knew that the players who would play would fight until the end. We put heart and mind, which is very important, and even when we didn't show great basketball, we played, I think, very good defense for three quarter and won this game."
ELLIS, OCTAVIUS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"Nikola Milutinov is one of the main players of our team and I had to come in and fill his shoes, even though that was the hard part. I just came in and played my role. Every day, I am listening to our coaches and this is what it is about, paying attention to small details."