Anadolu Efes will have to overcome Europe's toughest defense tonight if they want to inflict Olympiacos's first defeat in the Top 16 and break the Greek's hegemony over Group F.
Efes coach Dusan Ivkovic will be up against his old team and the side with whom he enjoyed his greatest success, winning the EuroLeague twice - once back in 1997 and again in 2012 where he won with now-Efes forward Stratos Perperoglu.
Olympiacos hold the EuroLeague's best defensive numbers, limiting the opponent's to just 68.7 points per game, although Efes have the fourth-best defense by the same metric.
After a promising start for Efes, they fell back last week when they lost to Nizhny Novgorod, giving up 109 points, a real anomaly for one of the stringiest teams in the league. Ivkovic is keen to bounce back from last week's loss and get one over his old team. "We will face Olympiacos, which leads the group with four victories," said the Serb. "They are a very balanced team. They had important victories in the Top 16 like in Malaga against Unicaja and in Istanbul against Fenerbahçe. After a very bad defensive performance of ours last week, we now have the opportunity to bounce back. Olympiacos is a very good team; they are the favorite for the first two positions in our group. Our defensive and offensive relationship must be much, much better. We must not let them have easy baskets and we must have the game control in our hands." While Olympiacos can boast an expert pick-and-roll game to go alongside their miserly defense, Efes can at least look to take advantage of the size matchup in the front court positions. Nenad Krstic and Stephane Lasme are more experienced than Bryant Dunston and Othello Hunter, and could have their own way down low if they can score baskets early from the post. Former Boston Celtics center Krstic said he expects a difficult matchup, but claimed his team-mates are more than up for the task ahead.
"This game is very important for us," Krstic said. "Actually, every game in Top 16 is very important. We expect a tough game against Olympiacos. They have a good roster individually and they play very well as a team. We all know the main players of them like Vassilis Spanoulis. They play pick-and-roll well, so we have to focus on this. They have big, athletic guys, [and] also good wings like Lojeski. It may be hard to beat them, but we absolutely want to win this game."
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