Olympiacos' defense 'demolishes' Khimki! (vid)

Olympiacos bet on his defense and won! Our team bested Khimki at the SEF 71-57, for the 19th round of the Euroleague and remains a strong contender for the top four ranking spots.

The 'reds' made an ideal start… Relying on their good defense, good ball movement and on their perimeter percentages, imposed the rhythm and 'built' a +11 margin (14-3, at 6'). The Russians tried to answer back, however, Giorgos Printezis took it up on himself to maintain the distance for Olympiacos (20-11, at 10'). In the second quarter however, Blatt's players suffered an offensive 'blackout'. They lost touch with scoring for more than five minutes, while during that same time, Khimki closed in at 2p. (20-18). A three by Papanikolaou gave a +5 lead to the team (23-18) that nevertheless continued struggling in the offense (23-22, at 18'), up until Nikola Milutinov took matters in his own hands. The ball went to him in the post, who scored 6 back to back point and created a +7 lead for the 'reds' (29-22), while Janis Strelnieks scored a three at the half-time buzzer and increased the space even further (32-22).

Olympiacos continued playing an excellent defensive game in the second half, balanced the situation with rebounding and with Kostas Papanikolaou running point in the attack sent the difference to +20 (48-28 at 16'). They also saw to maintain it at consistently high levels up until the end of the third quarter (55-36, with Strelnieks once again writing the score at the buzzer). But the Russians did not give up the fight… They took advantage of some poor choices made by the 'reds' and closed in at 12p. (62-50, at 37'). It was as far as they went though… Sasha Vezenkov offered valuable solutions to Olympiacos that maintained complete control of the game till the end.

The quarters: 20-11, 32-22, 55-36, 71-57

Οlympiacos (Blatt): Williams-Goss 3 (6 as, 3 st), Τoupane, Spanoulis 6 (8 as), Μilutinov 13, Strelnieks 11 (3), Vezenkov 14 (2), Printezis 10 (8 reb), Papanikolaou 14 (4 3p, 6 reb, 2 as, 1 bl), Μantzaris, Bogris, LeDay

Κhimki (Bartzokas): Bost 3 (1), Crocker 10 (2), Vialtsev 2, Green, Markovic 2, Gill 9 (1), Gubanov, Zubkov, Jenkins 4, Thomas 6, Mickey 21 (2)

«Papanikolaou is not a surprise»

David Blatt pointed out: "I believe that our team realized what was at stake and came out determined to protect our home court and play correctly in regard to such a game. It's obvious that we played very good defense tonight and we needed that. We have had 51% in twos, 40% in threes and 80 % in free throws and generally these percentages lead to high scores. The problem was that we made many stupid mistakes, hence the low scoring on our part. Khimki is a good team, with a good coach and with good results of lately. So it's a good win for us".

On not having used Janis Timma, he said: "It's hard to be playing 12 players in every game. I have done it before, but it's not easy. I don't believe that either Toupane or Bogris got a lot of minutes tonight. That's how the game went tonight. Khimki played low tempo, they wanted to stall us, so there was less action and a lesser need for a wider rotation".
When asked to comment on the recent performances by Kostas Papanikolaou, he supported that: "Kostas has been playing high level basketball on both ends of the floor. This is not a surprise to me, because he's a high level player. The thing with Kostas is that he's been doing it in a way that takes nothing from any other player. He gives so much to the team and it's beautiful to watch it".

Asked if 'Pap's' presence affects the minutes given to the other forwards, he replied: "The reason the other guys have been playing less minutes is because Kostas has such an impact on the team and hence their chances to get minutes become less. But this doesn't mean anything in terms of what follows. The other guys need to be ready to play and they are going to have the chance to play. For instance, look what Vezenkov got to do tonight. He helped us a lot in the game against Prometheus, when I rested Printezis. Tonight he played an excellent game, while he hadn't played other games at all. Your job as a professional player is to be ready to play on every single day they get the chance. That's what we are entitled to expect from them".

On how he keeps his players on alert: "What I do is to come to practice every day and try to motivate my players to do the best, so as to be in shape and evolve. So that when they get a chance, they can be ready. The second thing I've been doing is talking to them. My door is open. Other coaches do that, others don't, I do it. I was a player about 100 years ago. I've been in both places, so I understand them… It's not easy to not have the chance to play, when you are a good player. I feel for them, I know how it is".

Finally, when asked about his expectations in regard to last third of the regular season, he said: "You never put the carriage before the horse. We are thinking about Holargos and Fenerbahce, I don't think further than these two games at this particular time. If I look back, I think we could have had one more victory for sure, but that's in the past".

«I'm happy for the applause by the fans»

Khmiki's coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, pointed out: "Congratulations to Olympiacos, they deserved to win. They played better throughout the game. We have had a very poor offensive game, with not a lot of creation, neither with confidence when shooting the ball. We made 8 turnovers in the first half, some of them stupid ones and allowed Olympiacos to score in the open court. The truth is that the situation for our team is difficult right now and some times you just can't complain about it. We have been dealing with a lot of injuries and this is preoccupying more than tactics and basketball. Gill played in severe pain tonight and he's traveling to the States in 2 or 3 days to be tested and probably undergo surgery. Shved, who has been inactive for more than 45 days, will remain off for a long period of time, while Crocker played tonight after having an injection. It's very hard for our team, when they have to play so many back to back games against very strong opponents, to remain competitive. We have to be optimistic, stick together and focus at one game at a time to see what we can accomplish at the end".

About the warm applause by the 'reds' fans, he commented: "I'm happy for that. It was the same in the previous times, but I don't want to talk about it any further. It's a familiar environment, familiar faces. I'm very happy when I come back here and see so many smiles".