By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos was trailing in Berlin to ALBA after the first 20 minutes of the game, but then Alec Peters took matters into his own hands, completely changing the scenery at the Mercedes Benz Arena.
With the US forward scoring 12 points in just the third period, the Piraeus team flipped the script and secured a dominant 67-94 win to end 2023 on a high note.
Thanks to a significant improvement in the second half, Olympiacos improved to 9-8 after the first part of the regular season in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, while the German side fell to 3-17.
After scoring seven points in the first half, Peters turned up the heat after the break and added 16 more points to his tally to finish with a game-high 23 points and a PIR of 27, thanks to grabbing seven rebounds.
“The locker room was pretty fiery at halftime, and it was probably something we needed. We needed to let that anger out after a poor first half. We expressed our frustration, got back on the court, and demonstrated what we can do in the second half,” Peters said after the game.
Nigel Williams-Goss added 13 points, but Moustapha Fall scored 12 with six rebounds and three assists for a PIR of 25. Giannoulis Larentzakis also had a good game with 10 points and seven assists in 20 minutes off the bench.
For ALBA, which scored just 24 points in the final 20 minutes, Matt Thomas had 15 points, Matteo Spagnolo added five, and Sterling Brown also finished in double digits with 10 points.
“They punished us a lot with a defensive switch, and we didn’t execute well on offense. This is something we need to improve,” ALBA’s head coach Israel Gonzalez briefly commented on the match.
A bad start and a great finish
Olympiacos encountered challenges on both ends of the floor, struggling to match ALBA’s energy at the beginning. Just when things seemed on the verge of getting out of hand, following Jonas Mattisseck’s three-pointer that brought the score to 34-23 after 14 minutes, Georgios Bartzokas’ side shifted gears and began playing with greater focus. Triples from Larentzakis and Williams Goss helped the guests erase the significant deficit, but they still finished the half trailing 43-40.
Then, the Peters’ show commenced. The Greek side immediately embarked on an 8-0 burst in the third period, with the US forward contributing five points. Assisted by Fall and Canaan, Peters orchestrated a 16-2 surge, seizing complete control for his team.
Although Matt Thomas countered with a couple of three-pointers, that marked the extent of the guests’ response. The Piraeus team shattered the barrier, concluding the game with an impressive 16-36 rally in the final 14 minutes.
“We were down by three at halftime, and in the end, we won by 30, so it becomes clear that something changed in our approach. That’s what we discussed at halftime. They had 14 assists, shot 55% from three with nine successful shots, and we had just five fouls in the first half. Our defense tightened up in the second half, we made some tactical adjustments, finished the game with 30 assists, scored more than 90 points, and beat a team that defeated Barcelona last week by 30 points. It’s a win we appreciate,” Bartzokas shared his impressions in the aftermath.