Credit: Zuma Press – Scanpix
Credit Zuma Press – Scanpix

FC Barcelona (2-0) will face Olympiacos Piraeus (2-0) at Palau Blaugrana on Wednesday night in the third round of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. Both teams are unbeaten this season so far. 

2-pointers this season

57%
21,5
Points made: 21,5
Accuracy: 56,6%
Place in standings: 4
Record max: 23
Record min: 20
Most made 2FGs: Aleksandr Vezenkov

Sarunas Jasikevicius began the preview of the game admitting the powerhouse Greek team is once again among the best teams in Europe.

“Olympiacos are back, without a shadow of a doubt,” the Lithuanian coach said before the upcoming game. “They kept good players from last year, and the new additions are quite experienced and talented.”

“Lot of players can defend the perimeter. Hassan Martin does his things on the paint, he destroyed us last year”, he continued.

“We need to prepare the game well, it’s going to be tough. In Munich, we had a pretty good game, and I think it could be similar somehow”, Jasikevicius concluded.

Nicolas Laprovittola, who is averaging 5.5 points and 4.5 assists in 14 minutes, agreed with Saras’ perspective about the game.

“We need to continue as in the first two Euroleague games. Olympiacos gained confidence after defeating Madrid. I’m sure they will fight until the end. It depends on us to be focused during the 40 minutes.”

From Olympiacos’ view, head coach Georgios Bartzokas recognized the difficulty of the game against his former team. 

“It’s maybe one of the most difficult we have to play the whole season, given the dynamics of the opponent and the fact that we play on the road. We believe we are on the right path to improving our game, becoming better, and if possible, challenge for the win”, the Greek coach said.

Bartzokas also gave his perspective about what Olympiacos will need to do to win.

“We need to defend very well in the post because they play back to the basket. Setting the game is going to be really important, that is, whether we’ll be able to impose a speedy game and if we can play in the transition more than they can. In general, we have to be mentally and physically tough to cope with this game”, he analyzed.

Thomas Walkup, one of the newcomers at Piraeus who knows Jasikevicius well, warned about Barcelona’s intensity. 

“They are a very disciplined team with a good coach. They are definitely going to have a good game plan, and they are going to play hard. We are going to have to play tough and remain focused”.

Barcelona will host Olympiacos on Wednesday at 9 pm CET.

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FC Barcelona
Olympiacos Piraeus
62%
1 Position
Field goals
45%
7 Position
31,50
12 Position
Rebounds
35,50
8 Position
23,00
1 Position
Assists
17,50
4 Position
7,00
8 Position
Steals
7,50
6 Position

Teams leaders

Nikola  Mirotic
16,5 PTS
80% 2P%
100% 3P%
Aleksandr  Vezenkov
16,0 PTS
71% 2P%
20% 3P%
Nikola  Mirotic
4,5 REB
3,5 DREB
1,0 OREB
Aleksandr  Vezenkov
6,5 REB
3,0 DREB
3,5 OREB
Nicolas  Laprovittola
4,5 As
2,0 TO
14 MIN
Konstantinos  Sloukas
4,5 As
1,5 TO
25 MIN