Olympiacos have to defend their home-court against Baskonia
Tonight, two former glories of the Euroleague will fight to survive in Piraeus. Both of them are out of the playoff with small chances to be there this season. Olympiacos has already fired many Americans last weeks and now their roster is not complete. Even more, last week in the Euroleague all their foreigners combined for 0 points, which is saying a lot about their level. The good news for the Greek powerhouse is the addition of the big man Octavius Ellis. He is coming from Promitheas Patras and it will be a good choice to help his new team in the paint. In the same time, Olympiacos is ready to hit the market for a point guard to boost a bit more the offensive side.
On the other side, we have the visitors, Baskonia, a team that is very affected by the injuries this season. Especially, the last one is very tough: Pierria Henry, their main guard will be sidelined a couple of weeks. In his place, the Basque club has brought in Semaj Christon who started the season with Limoges. He is a good pick, but it remains to see if he can be integrated into the team in only 2 days. Anyway, Baskonia is far from being a Euroleague force this year, in spite of having some amazing results against F.C. Barcelona and Real Madrid. Their biggest problem is the lack of constancy due to the missing players. They can be destroyed by more than 20 points by anybody or they can fight like hell till the last seconds and win against big squads. With the Basques, you never know.
The home-court and the well-known Greek motivation will be the only two advantages that can propel Olympiacos past the visitors because the level of the teams is actually very tied.
Photo: Euroleague
Gratian Cormos
