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A win against Holargos for the A1 premiere

Olympiacos beat Holargos at the SEF 88-78 and began the new league season with a victory.

With Nikola Milutinov dominating the post, Olympiacos ‘built’ a 9p. difference (13-4, at 4’), which however saw vaporizing in only two minutes… The guests exploited on our team’s defense gaps and with a 9-0 streak tied the game 13-13 (at 6’). But then Blatt’s players were transformed… Good defense, excellent ball movement and good perimeter percentages not only regained full control for our team, but also sent the difference to +22 (58-36 at 20’).

In the second half, the ‘reds’ bad personas resurfaced… Terrible defensive attitude, combined with poor scoring (they weren’t able to find solutions against the zone defense of the guests), allowed Holargos to close in at 6p. (67-61, at 28’). Our team put a little more pressure in the defense, passed the ball inside the post to Milutinov, and widened the margin (+14, 78-64, at 33’).

Holargos tried yet another come back, relying to perimeter percentages, no pressure turnovers by the ‘reds’ as well as their bad free throw percentages (82-74, at 38’). But they didn’t make it… Olympiacos played aggressive defense, maintained distances and reached victory without being substantially threatened.

The quarters: 27-22, 58-36, 70-64, 88-78.

Οlympiacos (Blatt): Printezis 5, Spanoulis 2, Μilutinov 24 (10 reb.), Williams-Goss 15 (3), Τimma 7 (2), Vezenkov 2, Bogris, Mantzaris 7 (1), Strelnieks 3, Τoupane 12 (3), LeDay 11 (1).

Holargos (Lykogiannis): Fitzpatrick 9 (1), Jankovic 12, Okereafor, Agbelese 2, Love 11 (2), Kottas 13, Κamperidis 6 (2), Spyridonidis 12 (4), Skoulidas, Κalaitzakis, Hawkins 13 (1).

«We are looking forward…»

The Olympiacos coach, David Blatt, stressed: “We obviously played very good basketball in the first half and did the opposite in the second one. Of course we should give credit to Holargos because they played well in the second half. They were shooting very well. It’s not easy to play the same team in two days, especially when you have won the first game really easily. There is a dynamic in that… We lost our concentration in the second half and they made us pay for it. It’s never good missing 13 free throws and making as many mistakes as the ones we made in the second half. This game is in the past. We are looking forward…”

The coach of Holargos, Aris Lykogiannis, said: “It was definitely a very difficult game for us, especially in terms of management. It was a back to back game in only two days for a team that is not used to playing back to back games in such a short period of time. Taking into account that our next game is on Saturday, forced us to give one day off on Friday. So we came here with only one practice. We generally showed some good things today, even during the time Olympiacos was having the big break making some big shots, some of them open, others not so. Congrats to Olympiacos for the victory, good luck to their games in both Greece and Europe. We are leaving this game behind and need to get ready for the next game which is at home against Kolossos”.

Nigel Williams-Goss: «The first half was very good for us, with energy and focus. We weren’t as competitive in the second one. We need to work harder».