Moses Wright spoke for our website about the atmosphere that the Partizan fans made and he talked about the Olympiacos-Panathinaikos rivalry.
The American center has quietly joined the team from Piraeus. He came from Turkey, specifically from Merkezefendi, as a replacement for the injured first-choice centers of the team, Nikola Milutinov and Moustapha Fall, who has since returned to the court and signed a new contract with the red and whites.
He is known as a good rim protector and an excellent defender and as someone that can harm your team in the paint. He began the conversation for Basketball Sphere talking about the atmosphere that the Partizan fans made and he was already familiar with that.
“I’ve seen some footage of Partizan’s arena on social media. I’m really glad that I have got to experience that”, began Moses Wright.
No other EuroLeague teams aproached him
It wasn’t long before he moved from Merkezefendi to Olympiacos. He practically came through the back door to Piraeus, and he revealed to us how he ended up wearing the red and white jersey:
“One of the assistant coaches called me. He said that I would fit in well, and I trusted him. My manager and agency took care of everything else regarding negotiations. There weren’t any offers from EuroLeague clubs yet, at least not that I know of.”
He was impressive against Panathinaikos in the Greek derby. He scored 19 points, shooting flawlessly with 9/9 from the field. So, we can safely say that he adapted brilliantly to the fiery atmosphere of the Greek derby, and he described how he felt at that moment:
“The experience was phenomenal! All my shots were going in, and we even won in front of our fans who came out to support us in large numbers. It was a great experience, truly unique. I wasn’t so concerned about my performance, I was decent defensively but had good offensive numbers.”
“Mathias Lessort is a great player”
Although he was very modest in evaluating his performance against the biggest rival, the guy from North Carolina held Mathias Lessort to “just” 11 points. That’s really rare this season, and he talked about his preparation for him:
“Mathias Lessort is a great player. So, you have to mentally prepare for the battle. He closes everything offensively and is very strong. I’ve battled against other big centers like Serge Ibaka, so I’ve been in a similar situation before. Mental preparation is extremely important, and I was ready.”
Two brothers that are fighting
Olympiacos and Panathinaikos have nurtured a great rivalry for decades. It’s never boring in those games, regardless of what happens on the field. Our interviewee interestingly compared the two Greek giants:
“It’s like two brothers fighting, and each one always wants to win. Sometimes one wins, sometimes the other, but the desire to win is never in doubt. The constant battle, that’s what I love. The level of competition and energy, it’s unreal.”
Crvena Zvezda and Olympiacos have been interconnected for a long time. The fans of these two clubs have a very close relationship. Our interviewee is aware of this connection but hasn’t delved too deeply:
“Is it because of the colors, is that so? No? I’ve heard that Crvena Zvezda and Olympiacos have some kind of brotherhood. I don’t know much about it, but I know that this brotherhood has been nurtured for a long time.”
Finally, we asked him about his thoughts on what will happen by the end of the season and if he has any predictions, and he remained modest in his forecast:
“I don’t know, man… We’ll be good, I hope. We’re taking it game by game, and my focus is on the next one. We want to win that game and compete well,” concluded Moses Wright for our website.