By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Filip Petrusev was Olympiacos’ standout player in the victory over Barcelona at the start of the EuroLeague Playoff series but sustained an injury in the final moments.
Coach Georgios Bartzokas stated after the match about his injury that he “doesn’t think it will be a big deal,” and the Serbian power forward joined the team practice the day after the match.
It’s a huge relief for Olympiacos before Game 2 at Palau Blaugrana (26/04), but it still remains to be seen whether the former Anadolu Efes and Crvena Zvezda players will be able to help the team.
He’s not expected to practice normally with the squad to avoid any risks, but he will participate in the tactical exercises, which certainly implies that he may step onto the court for the second match in Barcelona.
Petrusev scored 12 points and five rebounds on 4/5 shooting from the field and 4/5 from the free-throw line, achieving a team-high PIR of 16 in the road win against the Spanish champions in the opening game of the playoff series.
“It’s clear that we must not relax. From the start, our philosophy has been that we came here for one game, the one last night. Now we are going for game number 2,” Bartzokas previewed Game 2 of the best-of-five series, “We never thought about the series as a whole and that’s what us coaches are trying to have the players embrace. These series are long, unpredictable and there are always upsets.”
“The game tomorrow is going to be a completely different one,” added Giannoulis Larentzakis, “The mindset is the same as yesterday. It was simply one win, we need two more to go to the Final Four. We will try to contest for the win again as if the game last night never happened.”