Olympiacos fought hard but did not make it

Olympiacos had the will, made a huge effort, had a goal and a plan, but did not manage to play the perfect game in order to beat a team as powerful as CSKA Moscow.

The “reds” were edged 86-78 at the Euroleague TOP-16 premiere in the presence of 8000 fans, however, showing a lot of improvement that guarantees a promising future.

The team under Dusan Ivkovic began the game with a lot of energy, but the many turnovers (seven in the first quarter) did not allow the team to get an early lead. Something that Olympiacos managed to achieve in the second quarter using a great three-point shooting percentage as a weapon (7/10).

With the beginning of the second half, some reckless mistakes gave Kirilenko’s company the chance to lead without however giving them the full control of the game. The “reds”, having Acie Law for the first time in their roster, fought for the victory to the end, but certain mistakes did not allow them to do so.

Per quarter: 21-22, 23-18, 14-20, 20-24.
Τhe quarters: 21-22, 44-40, 58-62, 78-86.
Οlympiacos (Ivkovic): Hines 13, Antic 13(2), Spanoulis 11(2), Dorsey 2, Pelekanos 3(1), Gecevicius 14(2), Glyniadakis 1, Printezis 4, Papanikolaou 6, Μantzaris 1, Sloukas 8(2), Law 2.
CSKA Moscow (Κazlauskas): Τeodosic 8(2), Lavrinovic, Siskauskas 12, Κrstic 18, Κirilenko 11, Voronov, Voroncevich, Shved 7(1), Kaun 4, Κhryapa 16, Gordon 10.


DUSAN IVKOVIC: It was a very strong game, which we lost in the details. We did not control it, either in the first or the third quarter. We made some very crucial mistakes. We began the third quarter with three turnovers, which cost us. We lost the four point lead we had and it was somewhere there that we also lost the game. I cannot teach the players how to play defense or use fouls in their advantage when they are already in the TOP16.

We did not work well defensively in the last quarter. We gave CSKA too many free throws. I’m not talking about the referees, it was our mistake. It was a fair victory for CSKA. We paid for our inexperience. Injuries played a role. Spanoulis has only been practicing for a week and he’s not in the best possible shape. TOP-16 is actually beginning for us next week against Galatasaray. If we can make the play-offs, then be sure it’s going to be a huge success. We are also trying to incorporate the two new foreigners in our game.

JONAS KAZLAUSKAS: I’m very happy to be back in the Peace and Friendship Stadium, playing in a nice gym, against my former team. We got an important victory, against a team that is somewhat changed, but is still very strong. We managed to contain Spanoulis and this helped us. The level at the TOP-16 is very high and winning in Olympiacos home court is an especially important result for us. Olympiacos played very well in the first half and managed to control the game with the three-pointers. We weren’t focused in the game and did not play good defense. However, in just three minutes in the third quarter, we managed to change the whole game.