By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
After routing Bayern Munich two days ago, Olympiacos Piraeus finished the last double-game EuroLeague week of 2021 with another crushing victory.
The Reds destroyed ASVEL Villeurbanne 89 – 54 to register their ninth win over the same number of games in Peace and Friendship arena this EuroLeague season and remain in the third position of the standings.
In the meantime, ASVEL suffered its fourth straight EuroLeague loss. The French side was forced to a new season-low in scoring after being pulverized by their opponents’ steelclad defense.
The trio of Tyler Dorsey (19 points), Sasha Vezenkov (15 points) and Kostas Papanikolaou (13 points, six rebounds) scored in double figures for an Olympiacos squad that was the superior force on the floor from start to finish. The hosts assumed a 39 – 21 lead at halftime and improved their advantage, expanding way beyond 30.
ASVEL was getting outplayed by Olympiacos on all levels and was was unable to compete or even somewhat react to stop the bleeding. “Their intensity was unbelievable, from all the guys, so congratulations to them,” ASVEL coach TJ Parker said.
Dylan Osetkowski had 13 points plus five rebounds, Yousoupha Fall posted 11 points and six boards while Marcos Knight scored 11 for ASVEL.
Containing the action of ASVEL leading scorer Elie Okobo and Chris Jones was the biggest badge on Olympiacos‘ defense and half the battle on their way to easily getting the result they wanted. Okobo was scoreless at halftime and finished with eight points on 3-9 shots while Jones went without any points for the first time this season after 0-6 attempts. He was averaging 14.0 before this match.
“We can say our plan was to defend really well [Chris] Jones and [Elie] Okobo, and I think we can say we made it,” Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas said. He saw Thomas Walkup, in particular, giving Okobo a hard time from early on. “We stopped the creation, we stopped the guys that have the scoring ability and can push the ASVEL team to raise the score. Of course, we have to admit it’s not always how your performance is, but how the other team is, in which situation you find them. Sometimes they are tired, sometimes they are not.”
“I’m not worried about one player. I’m worried about the team. The team comes first,” said Parker when asked about Okobo’s problems over the last couple of rounds. Their squad will look to recover next week at home against a Fenerbahce Beko team who has been quite robust recently with three consecutive wins.
Olympiacos is already locked on the upcoming EuroLeague derby against archrival Panathinaikos Athens. “We got a big one next week [against Panathinaikos],” Dorsey said. “We know how important that is and we know that we lost that one in the Greek League, so it’s important for the fans that we are ready next week. I think we had a really solid win. We have a lot of motivation, sure, for the next week. We know how important a Greek derby is, and we cannot disappoint the fans again. We are going to be ready.”