2020-21Regular SeasonRound 32
Valencia Basket 79
Olympiacos Piraeus 88
March 31, 2021 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 LA FONTETA

Olympiacos stops Valencia at La Fonteta

Olympiacos Piraeus handed Valencia Basket a 79-88 beatdown at La Fonteta on Wednesday. Olympiacos improved to 15-17 in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings and dropped Valencia to 17-15. Valencia's playoff hopes suffered a critical blow with the loss. Sasha Vezenkov led the winners with 19 points, Georgios Printezis added 18, Octavius Ellis had 11 while Kostas Sloukas dished 11 assists for Olympiacos. Klemen Prepelic paced Valencia with 12 points, Fernando San Emeterio added 11 and Vanja Marinkovic and Joan Sastre each had 10 for the hosts. Olympiacos led 19-23 after 10 minutes, extended its margin to 31-44 at halftime and then again 41-74 at the end of the third quarter, more than enough to seal the outcome with plenty of time to spare. Valencia managed to get within 71-79, but Vezenkov and Vassilis Spanoulis made sure Olympiacos recorded a road win.

Sloukas downed a triple and Ellis added a three-point play to give Olympiacos its first lead, 5-6. Derrick Williams and Nikola Kalinic took over with back-to-back alley-oop slams and Tobey scored down low for a 12-9 Valencia lead. Vezenkov and Printezis each struck from downtown and Kosta Koufos hit a jumper in an 0-10 run that gave the Reds a 12-19 edge. Sam Van Rossom banked in a floater and Sastre buried a three-pointer, but Sloukas and Koufos kept the visitors ahead, 19-23, after 10 minutes. Shaquielle McKissic scored in transition early in the second quarter, but Sastre did better with his second triple. Koufos and Livio Jean-Charles each scored in the paint, fueling an 0-8 run that Vezenkov capped with a put-back layup that prompted Valencia to call timeout at 22-33. Giannoulis Larentzakis struck from beyond the arc, but Van Rossom and Kalinic brought the hosts within 26-36. Jean-Charles had a reverse dunk and a tip-in in an 0-6 run that broke the game open, 27-42. Vezenkov hit a floater, but Louis Labeyrie and Guillem Vives got Valencia within 31-44 at halftime.

Printezis hit two of his trademark jump hooks soon after the break, before adding a triple for a 20-point Olympiacos margin. Sastre hit a jumper and Kalinic added a three-pointer, but Vezenkov and Ellis kept the Reds far ahead, 36-56. Printezis insisted from downtown and fed Vezenkov for a layup-plus-foul that boosted Olympiacos's lead to 36-62. Printezis and Ellis each scored in the low post to make it a 30-point game. Sloukas joined the three-point shootout and got help from Larentzakis to give the Reds a 41-74 margin after 30 minutes. San Emeterio, Labeyrie and Prepelic each hit a triple in a 13-0 run that brought the hosts closer, 54-74. Prepelic and San Emeterio kept pushing Valencia and Van Rossom struck from downtown to give his team hope, 62-76, midway through the fourth quarter. Vezenkov stepped up for Olympiacos, but Vanja Marinkovic found his first points and San Emeterio struck twice from beyond the arc to bring Valencia within single digits, 70-79. Vezenkov buried a three-pointer that sealed the outcome, 71-82, in the next-to-last minute

Pivotal performer

Georgios Printezis turned back the clock with a stellar performance, leading Olympiacos to a no-doubt-about-it victory. He finished the game with a season-high 18 points, including 3-for-4 shooting on three-pointers.

Game-changing moment

After Joan Sastre struck from downtown to bring Valencia within 22-25, Kostas Sloukas and Livio Jean-Charles fueled an 0-8 run that Sasha Vezenkov capped with a put-back layup that made it a double-digit game, 22-33. Valencia called timeout but never recovered after that.

Stellar stat

Olympiacos was effective inside the arc (61.3%) and from the free throw line (88.5%). Valencia only hit 33.8% of its two-point shots and also struggled from the foul line (61.1%). Olympiacos finished the game with 25 assists and just 9 turnovers.

Did you know?

Despite the loss, Valencia broke a club record for most points in a quarter with 38. Its previous record was 37 points, also scored in a fourth quarter of a 94-90 home victory against Zenit St Petersburg on November 19, 2019.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroLeague action later on this week - on Friday, April 2. Valencia visits ALBA Berlin, while Olympiacos plays on the road against Real Madrid in a rematch of the 1995, 2013 and 2017 EuroLeague Championship Games.

Georgios Printezis - Olympiacos Piraeus - EB20
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: LATISEVS, OLEGS; ZAMOJSKI, JAKUB; VYKLICKY, ROBERT
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Valencia Basket19121038
Olympiacos Piraeus23213014
End of Quarter1234
Valencia Basket19314179
Olympiacos Piraeus23447488
Valencia Basket
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 MARINKOVIC, VANJA 10:13 10 2/2 2/7   1   1 1 1 1     2   5
3 PREPELIC, KLEMEN 21:04 12 2/6 2/7 2/2   1 1 2 1 2   2 4 3 2
4 PRADILLA, JAIME 5:49   0/1     1 1 2 1 1         1 4
7 LABEYRIE, LOUIS 22:32 8 1/1 2/4   1 2 3     1       2 10
9 VAN ROSSOM, SAM 19:46 8 1/5 1/1 3/4   3 3 3 1       3 2 9
10 TOBEY, MIKE 19:25 4 1/2 0/1 2/4 1 8 9 1     1   3 2 10
12 KALINIC, NIKOLA 19:59 8 2/5 1/1 1/2 1 1 2 4   1   1 1 2 9
14 DUBLJEVIC, BOJAN 20:35 2 0/3 0/2 2/4   3 3 1 1 2       4 2
16 VIVES, GUILLEM 20:01 4   1/2 1/2       4   1     5 1 1
19 SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO 15:50 11 1/1 3/4   1 2 3 3 1       2   15
21 WILLIAMS, DERRICK 11:39 2 1/1       2 2 1 1 1       1 6
30 SASTRE, JOAN 13:07 10 2/2 2/4   1   1     1     2   6
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 79 13/29 14/33 11/18 9 25 34 21 7 10 1 3 22 18 83
        44.8% 42.4% 61.1%
Head coach: PONSARNAU, JAUME
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
Olympiacos Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 CHARALAMPOPOULOS, VASILIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 LARENTZAKIS, GIANNOULIS 16:54 8 1/2 1/4 3/4   2 2 2 1 4     2 2 4
7 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 16:51 4   0/3 4/4   2 2 4         1 2 8
11 SLOUKAS, KOSTAS 29:00 8 0/1 2/7 2/2   3 3 11 1 2       4 19
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA 28:25 19 3/5 3/8 4/4 2 4 6 2     1 1 2 2 20
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 24:11 18 3/6 3/4 3/4   6 6 2           2 23
17 JEAN-CHARLES, LIVIO 17:53 8 3/3 0/2 2/2 2 2 4           5 2 7
22 JENKINS, CHARLES 15:49   0/1 0/1     2 2 1 1       2 1 1
31 KOUFOS, KOSTA 16:21 8 4/6   0/1 1 2 3 2     1   2 2 11
32 ELLIS, OCTAVIUS 16:16 11 4/4   3/3 1 2 3   1   1   3 2 15
77 MCKISSIC, SHAQUIELLE 18:20 4 1/3 0/1 2/2 2 1 3 1 1 3     1 2 4
Team           1 3 4               4
Totals 200:00 88 19/31 9/30 23/26 9 29 38 25 5 9 3 1 18 21 116
        61.3% 30% 88.5%
Head coach: BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS

Head Coaches

PONSARNAU, JAUME
Valencia Basket
"We started the game with a clear idea of the difficulties we had ahead of us, how to play defense on their ballhandlers, how to make their passing game and ball circulation more difficult. We had started to feel comfortable, but on offense, we missed some free throws and some shots we could have taken earlier. It looked like we were one step behind in terms of learning what to do in the game. In the second quarter, our bad offense conditioned us a lot. We went back to defense thinking about our offense and this is why our defense was not solid even when we were trying. We knew that they would look for corner shots, but needed to be better to reach out earlier, a few seconds earlier. If we did, some of the shots they took at the end of their possessions would not have existed. In the third quarter, I thought we came out with the right mentality but Printezis's inspiration depressed us to compete for the game. We didn't find anybody at the start of that quarter. No-one took good shots or made good passes. We cracked as a team, loudly, until players with energy came off the bench came in with the right mentality, but with very few options to win the game. The desire and heart of those players gave us an option, but Vezenkov hit a three-pointer that sealed the outcome."
BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
Olympiacos Piraeus

"We thought that the game was over, and it wasn't. In a EuroLeague game, we cannot underestimate anybody. We started to turn the ball over, rushing a little bit our offense and we allowed a lot of things on defense, so Valencia has great shooters and they made a lot [of shots], some from a very long range. And somehow, they came back in the game and finally we won. It's a win that I really appreciate. It wasn't easy to beat Valencia here. We lost in the first round in Pireaus easily, so it was a great effort from the players and congratulations.

"We are talking about a team with the best, in my opinion, offensive execution in the league. So with the defensive game that we did, we destroyed their movement and their action. Then we controlled the game for 30-32 minutes, playing a solid game at both ends, offensively and defensively, passing the ball a lot, finding the open man, having patience. In the last, let's say, 7-8 minutes, it is a different story. Valencia, without pressure, losing by 30 points, they started to make some long-range shots, making 9 of them in the last quarter. So they came back in the game but finally we controlled to win the game. I would like to say congratulations to Valencia for its season and good luck in the upcoming games."

Players

PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"Personally, I don't care so much because we didn't succeed to go to the playoffs, but it is very fair for all the teams to play until the end, to win all the games. We have two more games and have to play as a team, to respect ourselves and to finish the way that we want. It is very fair for the opponents to give 100%, it doesn't matter if we didn't succeed. As I said before, we need to respect ourselves, to play for Olympiacos, to play as Olympiacos and to win all the games. We even have to try now to improve and continue."
VEZENKOV, SASHA
Olympiacos Piraeus
"We played, I think, maybe our best game until now for three quarters, but basketball is 40 minutes and Valencia put a lot of full-court pressure. We made some mistakes, some misunderstandings on defense and on offense. They came back but I think that, overall, we played a good game and controlled the game, so we are happy that we won in this very difficult arena. I would be happier if the team would be in the playoffs. We look forward and have a game in two days, so we have to be very concentrated and try to win the next game, too."