Return to victories for Thrylos!
Olympiacos returned to victories following the defeat in Barcelona, by edging Aris on the road 64-59.
The game began with the two teams fighting head to head. Dunston and Lojeski scored 15 of the 17 points of the Back2Back European Champions in the first quarter that ended 18-17 for the hosts.
The ‘reds’ did not appear as they should have defense wise in the second quarter and hence Aris maintained its lead won in the first quarter, with the second quarter ending 40-36.
The players of Giorgos Bartzokas significantly improved on their defense in the third quarter, received only 12 points, but were shooting very poorly behind the 6.75m. arc, had no patience in moving the ball and the third quarter ended 52-48.
The Piraeus team received only seven points in the last quarter, Dunston was unstoppable and dominated both posts and thus Olympiacos won 64-59.
The quarters: 18-17, 40-36, 52-48, 59-64
Aris (Minic): Bohoridis 8, Pelekanos 9 (1), Gkikas 6 (2), Asimakopoulos, Charisis 6, Vezenkov 15 (1), Sarikopoulos 2, Mourtos 8, Athinaiou 5 (1).
Olympiacos (Bartzokas): Petway 5 (1), Dunston 17, Perperoglou 2, Papapetrou 3 (1), Sloukas 8 (1), Collins 2, Simmons 1, Lojeski 15 (1), Agravanis, Mantzaris 7 (1), Kavvadas 4.
MILAN MINIC: “Olympiacos having such a roster wanted to both win and give minutes. They have both experienced and young players, but at the end when the game was close, they played with the experienced ones and won. They definitely had their minds on the game against Laboral Kutxa. I’m very happy with our performance against Olympiacos. Our minds were willing tonight, but the mind does not always follow, there was fatigue to battle as well. We played smart and physical in the first half, were scoring easily, but lacked energy in the second half, our minds wanted to go, but our bodies wouldn’t follow. We stopped moving the ball well, lacked proper motion. Opposing guards put a stop on us with their defense. Congratulations to the fans for giving us boost. It’s a “victory” for the guys who gave all. I wish Olympiacos makes the Final Four, just like I wish it for Panathinaikos. We have some tough games ahead of us till the end of the season”.
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: “We had been expecting a tough game and that’s how it turned to be. Aris has some principles in his game and tries to play with a very specific manner. The way we approached the game in defense especially in the first quarter, combined with our lack of energy, gave Aris the right to score 40 points until half time. We changed our defensive plan in the second quarter, we were hasty in trying to finish with the game and that was a mistake. We lacked patience, did not attack their feet and that was a mistake too. We kind of lack motivation in such games. I would like to congratulate Aris for their effort and performances. We have to look ahead at a very difficult schedule. We played against Barcelona missing key guards and especially Spanoulis and you know what this means for this team. We used young players tonight that need time. We have had a lot of injury problems, Law, Spanoulis, Printezis. Mantzaris is very tired; he had to chase Navarro the other night. So it’s hard to maintain high performance standards”
NIKOS GKIKAS: “We knew that Olympiacos would be coming here with major absences and tired from a difficult game. Our goal had been to put pressure on the Olympiacos handlers, we had a specific plan for the pick n’ roll and I think we succeeded in most part of the game. I think that we made a great effort, but we did not pull through since we faced a lot of problems at the low post. We have five finals ahead; I think that if we succeed we are in a very good path. I believe that we missed a great opportunity at winning tonight. We made mistakes at the end; Olympiacos is a better quality team and got the victory. That’s what cost us”.
VANGELIS MANTZARIS: “Congratulations to the team on defense played in the second half. Our performance in defense was unacceptable in the first half when we received 40 points. We played proper defense in the second half, fatigue cannot be an excuse, we received only 19 points in the second half; that is as much as in the first quarter”.