An ideal finale
Olympiacos defeated Apollon Patras 80-53 in a celebration game. The “red and whites” celebrated winning back to back Euroleague titles, on the last game of the regular season and concluded the season with 25 wins and only 1 loss.
The Piraeus team came into the game with force and willing to offer entertainment along with great basketball and so in the first quarter, Olympiacos quickly got a 10 point lead (25-15). In the second quarter, Giorgos Bartzokas’s players slowed down the pace of the match with the first half ending 37-31.
In the third quarter the European and Greek champions showcased their strength. Printezis, Perkins and Papanikolaou were thrilling, thus helping Olympiacos widen their margin to +22 (63-41) at the 30’ mark. During the last quarter the “red and white” players held onto their lead while reserving strength at the same time and reached victory with the final score being 80-53.
The quarters: 25-15, 37-31, 63-41, 80-53
Olympiacos (Bartzokas): Hines, Law 7 (1), Antic 8 (2), Spanoulis 9, Perperoglou 5 (1), Sloukas 4, Powell 5, Perkins 9(1), Printezis 18, Papanikolaou 8, Georgakis 5, Katsivelis 2
Apollon Patras (Vetoulas): McCollum 6 (1), Argiropoulos 10 (2), Kaperonis, Grant 8(1), Thanopoulos, Lianos 2, Petrovic 12 (2), Pelekoudas 4, Lamperis, Klaiber 5 (1), Molfetas 4, Turner 2
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: “I want to thank our fans for coming here to celebrate winning the trophy with us. I have great respect for Apollon and I don’t believe that the games in the playoffs will be easy. For Olympiacos, now is the beginning of the road to the championship since we had secured the first place for a long time now and our minds were with the Euroleague trophy. It was difficult to have a great motive. Now we will prepare very good in both on and off court. The games with Apollon will help us, since they will not be easy and at the same time they will put us in the philosophy of the Greek league. The team has exceeded the normal way of handling things, but I’m sure that the players will be ready”.
GIORGOS GEORGAKIS: “It generally was a good game and I want to congratulate the Patra team for advancing to the play offs. We played good basketball and we now also have to be serious during the play offs”.