Olympiacos Piraeus held off Zalgiris Kaunas 93-91 on Tuesday at a sold-out Zalgirio Arena, with Shaquille O’Neal watching courtside alongside Lithuanian basketball legend Arvydas Sabonis.
The four-time NBA champion was involved in the atmosphere from the start, greeting Olympiacos forward Evan Fournier during warm-ups before joining the crowd for the team introductions. By halftime, O’Neal had become one of the main attractions inside the arena.
Zalgiris made the stronger start, but the defending EuroLeague champions responded as the game developed into a back-and-forth contest. Fournier provided an important spark in the second quarter, scoring eight points off the bench, while Carsen Edwards helped Zalgiris recover as the hosts went into halftime tied at 44-44.
The two teams continued trading runs in the second half. Zalgiris entered the fourth quarter with a narrow deficit before Edwards hit a three-pointer and Azuolas Tubelis followed with a basket to give the hosts an 84-82 lead.
Fournier answered immediately.
The French forward knocked down a three-pointer and later hit another from beyond the arc to put Olympiacos ahead 90-88. He had missed his first three three-point attempts, but converted twice when the defending champions needed him most.
Fournier finished with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists, shooting 4-of-7 from two-point range, 2-of-5 from three and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. Olympiacos also received 18 points from Sasha Vezenkov and 15 from J. Montero.
Zalgiris was led by Sterling Brown, who scored 20 points, while Tubelis added 19 and Edwards finished with 16 points and four assists. The hosts shot 46.2% from three-point range but could not complete the comeback.
Olympiacos improved to 2-0 in the EuroLeague standings after also winning its opening game, while Zalgiris fell to 1-1. The Greek side will visit Virtus Bologna on Thursday, with Zalgiris traveling to face Paris Basketball.
