Defeat due to details
Olympiacos lost 78 – 74 to Fenerbahce/Ulker on the road for the TOP-16 second round premiere and after 8 games has a 4-4 record.
The Back2Back European Champions, who played without the injured Vassilis Spanoulis, did not make a good beginning in the game and hence the hosts took a 9-0 lead, but the ‘reds’ with a partial 11-2 tied the game 11-11. Perperoglou and Sloukas were doing a great job and the first quarter was 21-22 for the Piraeus team.
The second quarter was played to the same tempo. A ‘black’ zone in the second quarter allowed the Turkish team to take the lead and the first half closed 41-38 in favor of the hosts.
Our team missed on the opportunity to close in at two points following an out of target three by Mantzaris when the score was 51-47. Then our team received six points and the score was shaped at 57-47 with the third quarter ending 59-51 for the hosts.
In the last quarter, the ‘reds’ tried for the big upset, our team closed in with Sloukas, Perperoglou and Mantzaris. With the score at 74-72, McCalebb wrote 76-72 with a shot from a four meters range just 20’’ to the end and practically gave his team the victory.
Τhe quarters: 21-22, 41-38, 59-51, 78-74
Fenerbahce/Ulker (Obradovic): McCalebb 20, Jackson, Onan 2, Bjelica 8 (1), Mahmutoglu 3 (1), Kleiza 21 (2), Turkgilmaz, Sekulic 2, Savvaz, Zoric 9, Bogdanovic 9, Preldzic 4.
Olympiacos (Bartzokas): Petway, Dunston 9, Perperoglou 17 (2), Sloukas 17 (2), Collins, Simmons 4, Printezis 10 (1), Mantzaris 10 (2), Katsivelis, Lojeski 7, Moon .
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: “I don’t have any complaints from my players, we fought for 40 minutes, without Spanoulis in our roster and we still had the chance to winning the game. I also think that the technical foul I received at a very critical part of the game played its role. I still haven’t understood why I was called the technical. It wasn’t fair for Olympiacos, it has nothing to do with me. We are now looking ahead; our next game is against Milan in our home court. This TOP-16 is very competitive, each team tries hard, we should stay focused to the end and then we’ll see what we’ll have accomplished. Congratulations to Fenerbahce/Ulker. We don’t know how long Spanoulis is going to be away, we’ll see at the results of the MRI and then know”.
ZELJKO OBRADOVIC: “We prepared the team to play much better in defense than what we played in the first round. I think we made it. At some point in the third quarter, when we were leading by 10, Olympiacos played good defense, but could not score, I remember 4-5 of their offenses going scoreless and that was a result of our defensive game. I’m happy with how my team played and the final difference of four points does not accurately reflect what happened during the 40 minutes of the game. But I think it’s only logical since we were playing against the team that holds the reins of Europe in the last two years. They know how to fight, how to not give up on any game and fight to the last second and that’s why they are an excellent team. Congratulations to my players, they fought a good fight, it’s an important victory for us and I wish to thank our fans for packing our gym and creating a great atmosphere. And I also wish to thank our president for once again being with us in a critical game. Each game is very important from this point on, we’ll have to look at one game at a time, since there is much future into the TOP-16.”