By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Valencia trailed for the entire game – often in double figures – on the road against Olympiacos Piraeus but managed to ultimately get an 82 – 83 win in the very last seconds after overall coming back from down 16 points.
Chris Jones drained three free throws with three seconds to play to put Valencia up 82 – 83 in what was the team’s first and only lead in the match. On the other end, Kostas Sloukas missed the jump shot to win the game and Alec Peters’ putback attempt was blocked by James Webb.
Olympiacos heavily protested the decision of the referees to give three free throws to Jones after watching the instant replay since it wasn’t clear that the guard was fouled during shooting action. The Reds also protested for possible fouls on Sloukas and Peters in the final possession, with coach Giorgos Bartzokas vividly expressing his complaints to the referees immediately after the match.
“It was the only time Valencia led; a very strange thing happened”, said Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas. “We turned the ball over a lot of times. We had the last possession [to try and win it]. It was a question mark why we did not take what we deserved [from the game], but we have to congratulate Valencia.”
As Valencia coach Alex Mumbru added: “In the end, sometimes it is one good decision, one bad decision. Finally, it was for us and we are happy.”
Jones, who also hit the triple for the 80 – 77, finished with 17 points, as many as Valencia captain Bojan Dubljevic. Their team was down 77 – 67 with 6:28 to play but took advantage of some turnovers and bad offensive choices by Olympiacos to approach by a shooting distance down the stretch.
Chris Webb hit a mid-range jumper to make it 80 – 79 with 1:11 to play and then Sloukas and Jones made 1-2 free throws apiece. Olympiacos’ star guard had another 1-2 trip to the line and then the Reds decided to foul Jones to avoid a potential game-winner from triple, only for the American guard to be called for a shooting foul from deep.
Jones didn’t hide his satisfaction: “We expect to win every game, that’s just the mentality we have. We stick together. We got stops, in transition we executed better, made shots in the half court, and we won the game.”
Sasha Vezenkov led Olympiacos with 20 points plus a career-high seven assists. Thomas Walkup had 12 points plus six assists and Sloukas posted 11 points plus six dimes of his own.
Despite some strong shooting (21-36 2-pointers, 10-19 3-pointers), Olympiacos committed 20 turnovers that ultimately proved to be costly. Valencia was patient and trimmed bits and pieces of its deficit until making some big shots down the stretch and getting an impressive victory.