By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos Piraeus center Moustapha Fall commended his teammate and fellow French player Evan Fournier after the latter’s performance in the EuroLeague win over Barcelona.
“He’s a scorer. Every scorer, as soon as they see one shot going in, they get hot,” Fall told Eurohoops. Fournier finished with a team-high 19 points on 6-9 shots, scoring 10 over two minutes in the third period. “I’m not surprised. I played on the national team with him before and I know what to expect from him. For sure, he needs some time also to adjust to the new system. He fits very well, he puts on a great effort and he’s very motivated. He’s completely there, like I know him to be.”
The day before the game against Barcelona, Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas revealed a story about Fournier. Following the victory over Real Madrid on Tuesday (29/10), Fournier – who also had his birthday – called Olympiacos assistant coach and defense specialist Christos Pappas at 2 am. to talk to him about a defense on a flare screen gone wrong.
Bartzokas shared the tale to applaud Fournier’s mentality and approach. For Fall, who has known Fournier for many years, this was simply indicative of who he is.
“He likes to watch game videos,” Fall mentioned. “I know he does that because we talk about this every time, about defense and stuff. So I’m not surprised at all. That night he asked me Christos’ number to send him the clip.”
“To me, this is nothing special,” Fall also said. “These stories don’t come out all the time. But it explains this. A guy like him who was successful in the NBA, made money and has everything he wants basically… he comes here and is that motivated. And that’s good. I think that’s a worry of the coaching staff, when you get a player from the NBA like this. I told them that I know him personally and I know he’s a competitor. Nothing surprised me about it because I know how he is.”
“I understand why the coaching staff is amazed,” Fall added. “People who have this success, they like to relax and they come back [from the NBA] like it’s pre-retirement. Not him.”
Photo: Eurokinissi