Showtime, victory and a new record!
Olympiacos demolished Galatasaray 72-54 and has now set a new record having 17 victories and no losses. Dunston was the top scorer. The team now counts a 7-0 record for the Euroleague.
Olympiacos imposed the rhythm from the beginning of the game, and thanks to its amazing defense and to Bryant Dunston succeeded in leading 14-6 with the first quarter ending 18-10 in favor of the Back2Back Champions of Europe.
Vassilis Spanoulis was not only creating, but also executing in the second quarter and hence the difference went above 10 points. The ‘reds’ continued playing good defense and thus half-time ended 35-24 in favor of the team of Giorgos Bartzokas.
Olympiacos was catapulting in the third quarter. The ‘reds’ running a partial 24-11 sent the difference to +24. Sloukas, Lojeski and Printezis under the leadership of captain Vassilis Spanoulis, did as they pleased against the Turkish team with the score skyrocketing.
The team of Giorgos Bartzokas offered show time as well. With a three by Ioannis Papapetrou at 36’, Olympiacos was leading 70-44. At the point there was an altercation between Mensah Bonsu and Mirza Begic with the refs expelling them from the game together with Giorgos Pritnezis. After this incident the tempo slowed down and the game ended 72-54 for the Back2Back Champions of Europe.
The quarters: 18-10, 35-24, 59-35, 72-54.
Οlympiacos (Bartzokas): Petway 4, Law, Dunston 18 (5reb), Spanoulis 12 (2 3p, 4as), Perperoglou 3, Papapetrou 3 (1), Sloukas 5 (1), Begic 8, Printezis 9 (1), Agravanis, Mantzaris 3 (1), Lojeski 7 (1).
Galatasaray (Ataman): Erceg 2, Koksal 3, Hairston 2, Akyol 3 (1), Aldemir 10, Mensah Bonsu 7, Macvan 2, Aroyo 6, Guler 10, Arslan 9 (1), Domercant.
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: “If I’m not mistaken, this victory sends us to the TOP-16 and I think this development is important enough. We have had many injury problems. Tonight Petway got injured as well and we hope it’s not serious enough because this will be a huge blow for us. Now, as far as the game is concerned, the game went the way it went, we were completely controlling the tempo. We moved the ball well due to good defense and the victory seemed to be coming our way easily, as it actually did, but it was marked by this incident that spoiled the image especially for young kids and families that come to the gym, it’s something that should never be happening. We succeeded in setting this record of 17 continuous victories that can only leave us smiling since it’s the best beginning in the history of the team. We are happy for the way we worked since the road was paved with roses; we have had many bad moments and bad luck that had to do with injuries. Congratulations to the players. I also wish to congratulate Vassilis Spanoulis on behalf of everyone on the team for this honor done to him tonight and we feel part of this honor even if it’s for a little since we are a team. The only thing that troubles me right now is Petway’s injury. Olympiacos won by 20 the second best team of the group and we seem to be motivated at every game. We are doing the best we can to win and the guys are extra motivated at every game. Look, I always say that at all times the opponent plays as well. We defended excellently. We had wanted to stop Aroyo and all those playing defense on him isolated him. We reacted well to all the players of Galata. Dunston was excellent at every challenge and created great security for us in the game. How Galata played tonight has to do with how we played defense”.
ERGIN ATAMAN: “It’s not easy to talk about our performance tonight, especially in offense. We succeeded in containing offensive activity by Olympiacos in the first half, but we were terrible in offense tonight in every shot we took. It was improbable that we won with these percentages tonight. I would also like to apologize for everything that happened in the last minutes. We will severely punish our player Pops Mensah-Bonsu, and I hope that Olympiacos does the same with Mirza Begic. I want to apologize on behalf of our team for what happened. We are friends with Olympiacos and the Greeks. The atmosphere had been amazing in the beginning, but the two players did all they could to destroy it. Especially for us that we have so many absentees, the absence of Mensah – Bonsu will be an even bigger problem. I expect that our player is very heavily fined by the Euroleague, the same way it applies in the NBA and the same will go for the Olympiacos player. I think that’s the right thing”.
Highlights... Photo Gallely... {myFlickr}feed=photoset, photoset_id=72157638162814173, layout=table, columns=3, style=css6, gallery=lightbox{/myFlickr}