A tough road game for Olympiacos in the 8th round of the EuroLeague!
The “Red-and-Whites” traveled to Istanbul, where they’ll face Besiktas tonight (10/28, 7:30 p.m.) against Besiktas, looking to get back on track after their loss to Fenerbahce at the Sunel Arena.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Last Friday against Jasikevicius’s team, the Piraeus squad held a steady lead by narrow margins, but ultimately seemed to run out of steam, paying the price for key absences and suffering a narrow 64-61 loss, after which they dropped to 5-2 and remained one win away from the top. This was followed by a very easy 85-45 victory over Promitheas in Patras, bringing their record to 4-0 in the Stoiximan GBL.
On the court, Giorgos Bartzokas continues to… struggle with the significant absences of Fournier and Montero, who have not yet recovered from the injuries that have plagued them, while Milutinov also did not travel to Turkey due to an injury to his toe. Dorsey also remains sidelined due to the suspension imposed on him for the disciplinary offense he committed. On the other hand, Plotas is available again, having recovered from the injury that had been plaguing him.
“It’s our duty to ensure the team has energy. Everyone plays with extra motivation against us. Besiktas is a highly motivated team with a passionate fan base. Everyone must contribute to the game. We need to be competitive and maintain good communication between the bench and the court. Every game is special. After Fenerbahce, we might face a 90-point game. We prefer to fight hard in every game and win it. This is a crucial stretch for us; we have a lot of games coming up in the next few days, and our absences are significant in terms of both playmaking and execution. If we come out of this unscathed, it will be important,” said the Olympiacos coach, among other things, ahead of tonight’s matchup.
On the other hand, Besiktas, in its return to the EuroLeague after 14 years, has gotten off to a pretty good start to the season, with 3 wins in its first 7 games. Last week, they suffered an 89-80 loss on the road against Efes, and two days later, they also lost to Bahçeşehir, dropping to a 2-3 record in the Turkish league.
Dusan Alibegovic continues to be without the services of the long-injured DeQuan Jeffries, while Lonnie Walker made his debut against Efes but took a knock, and his participation in tonight’s game remains doubtful.
Sasa Pukl (Slovenia), Robert Lottermoser (Germany), and Igor Dragojević (Montenegro) will be the referees for tonight’s game.
