By Antonis Stroggylakis / astroggylakis@eurohoops.net
ABU DHABI— For the fourth straight season, Olympiacos Piraeus leaves the EuroLeague Final Four empty-handed.
This time it was AS Monaco that crushed the dreams of Olympiacos to finally win the EuroLeague championship by shutting down the Greek side 78 – 68 in a defensive clinic.
For Olympiacos forward Alec Peters it was heartbreaking to see all the efforts of this campaign, where his team got the first seed in the regular season, not bearing fruit once more.
“It’s hard to explain,” Peters told Eurohoops when asked about his team delivering a horrid performance in the most important game of the season. “It’s how this event is set up. Four teams. You have a bad day – it’s over. That’s what unfortunately happened to us. All aspects of it. There’s really anything we can point to that we did well today. Very disappointing. I know that people who traveled here for us are disappointed. Personally, I’ll jut remember how blessed I am to play this game, be in this atmosphere and experience these experiences I have with this guys. You don’t know how much longer this is going to last. After this wears off, I’m going to feel a blessed man.”
“This group of guys has been so special,” Peters added. “It just sucks this way the whole season ended. Basically it’s over for us in the EuroLeague. You just… it’s tough. I’m going to wake up tomorrow blessed and ready to have the best day of my life. Today, that wasn’t it.”
Peters played for 7:27 in the first half and saw the vast majority of the second half from the bench before entering the court with 2:35 remaining and his team down 72 – 61.
While he was out, Olympiacos struggled immensely to hit shots, finishing with 5 out of 27. The Reds couldn’t even convert the open looks they were getting and were also unable to space the floor sufficiently to let their usually fluid offense flow.
Being by far the most reliable 3-pointer shooter of Olympiacos and widely regarded as one of the most elite EuroLeague snipers in general with 52.6 percent (40-76) from beyond the arc before the Final Four, Peters naturally felt he could’ve helped a bit more if he got the chance.
“I want to be out there,” Peters said. “I still have memories of last year. Coming here in the Final Four, playing well. Of course you want the ball. You want that back. That’s unfortunately the way it goes. I’m not a coach. I don’t make the decisions. I’m just here to be part of the team. That’s what I’m trying to do all season long. It’s how it went today. Whether I’m happy or not, that’s how it went.