By Dimitris Minaretzis/ info@eurohoops.net
Coming off six wins in a row between the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and Greece’s Basket League, Olympiacos is forced to compete without floor general Kostas Sloukas for the second straight game.
Sloukas, 33, sat out the Basket League Regular Season Round 14 contest opposite Aris Sunday and was subsequently ruled out for the EuroLeague Regular Season Round 22 game opposite Fener to be held in Ulker Sports and Event Hall tomorrow, Tuesday. In addition, he is considered questionable to play against Anadolu Efes in the Peace and Friendship Stadium, SEF, Friday.
The left-handed Greek point guard produced 11.6 points, 6.6 assists, 2.3 rebounds, and 0.5 steals per game appearing in 20 of the 21 EuroLeague games so far in the 2022-23 campaign, before suffering the back injury. In the Greek league, he contributed 6.5 points, 5.0 assists, and 1.6 rebounds per contest.
An injury issue generated late in the comfortable domestic win over Aris, Alec Peters made the trip to Turkey labeled as a game-time decision for the team coached by Giorgos Bartzokas. The remaining members of the squad are healthy.
As for the Turkish side coached by Greek tactician Dimitris Itoudis, Tonye Jekiri (groin), Nemanja Bjelica (calf), Tarik Biberovic (hamstring), and Ismet Akpinar (ankle) will all remain on the injury list. Besides Olympiacos, the four injury-list members are also expected to miss Friday’s home fixture opposite Alba Berlin.
Entering the next double-game week of the 2022-23 Regular Season, the Reds are tied with Real Madrid at 14-7 and on top of the standings. Knotted up with FC Barcelona and AS Monaco at 13-8, the Istanbul outfit follows one game behind the co-leaders.