The heart of the Roig Arena finally brings down Olympiacos at home (85-84)

Valencia Basket gave everything to secure their first-ever home win against Olympiacos Piraeus by 85–84, earning their 21st victory in the EuroLeague. In a game where they fought to stay alive during their toughest moments, the taronja squad ultimately completed a comeback in the final three minutes.

A steal and subsequent layup by Key, and especially two free throws taken by De Larrea—who had to step up after a blow to his injured hand on the decisive foul—proved crucial in tipping the game in Valencia’s favor.

The game was evenly matched for the first fifteen minutes, with the Greek side balancing Valencia’s three-point shooting accuracy (we made seven of our first nine attempts) through second-chance opportunities from offensive rebounds and trips to the free-throw line. Olympiacos attempted 14 free throws in the first half before Valencia Basket went to the line for the first time in the 23rd minute, in a disparity that at one point reached 22–1.

The return of Vezenkov and Ward gave Olympiacos an efficiency that the home side couldn’t match, allowing the visitors to take an eight-point lead into halftime.

Valencia Basket regained control with a 14–3 run and a defensive effort that held the Greek team without a field goal for over seven minutes, limiting them to scoring only from the free-throw line. Although Olympiacos found their shooting touch again late in the third quarter to retake the lead, Valencia responded to keep the game tight heading into the final ten minutes.

The home team continued to apply defensive pressure but struggled offensively at the start of the fourth quarter, falling seven points behind and entering the final three minutes trailing by five. However, Pedro Martínez’s players never stopped fighting or believing, pushing the game into another nail-biting finish—which this time went Valencia’s way.

Post-game quotes: Pedro Martínez

Surely, taking everything into account, this is one of the most emotional victories. First, because of the quality of the opponent. Also, the fact that we were coming off two losses in this competition. It was a game against a rival that we trailed for many minutes. We had to make a big effort to get back into the game, especially in the third quarter, after being down by eight points at halftime. They also played very well. We had to fight hard. Papi grabbed about four offensive rebounds. Braxton was very good defensively, with some excellent steals. In the end, it was a coin-flip game—on other days it’s gone against us, but today it went our way.

And finishing the game like this, with Jean Montero’s injury, and having our youngest player step up to make two free throws under huge pressure, but with great personality—that was remarkable. Congratulations to the whole team, and especially to De Larrea for his composure. He’s indeed a great free-throw shooter, but the moment wasn’t easy, and he hadn’t had a big role in the game to just come in expecting to make them. His personality and mindset were truly competitive in that final play.

The team was incredible. In the first half, we played very well offensively, yet against a great team we were still eight points down. In the second half, we improved in attack, and above all, we were much better on defense.