The title defense of Olympiacos BC Pireaus suffered a blow over the weekend with the news that starting point guard Evangelos Mantzaris ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and is expected to be sidelined for six months, the club confirmed Monday. Mantzaris was injured early in a Greek League game and underwent MRI tests that confirmed the injury. As such, Mantzaris will not be able to play for the remainder of the season. He had started all 15 Turkish Airlines Euroleague games for the Reds until now, averaging 3.5 points on 43.8% three-point shooting and 2.3 assists. With just 8 turnovers in 313 minutes on court, Mantzaris had the Euroleague's top assist-to-turnover ratio, 4.25 to 1, this season. His backup, Acie Law, missed the last Euroleague game with a head injury and was replaced by Dimitris Katsivelis, who made his first appearance of the season, but played steady minutes last year as Olympiacos won the title.