A triumph in Barcelona
'Thrylos' was exquisite against Barcelona, won the second quarter final 76-63, tied the series 1-1 and now the series goes to the Peace and Friendship Stadium for the next two games.
Olympiacos was determined from the beginning of the game to show to Barcelona how serious he was. Playing amazing defense, the players of Giannis Sfairopoulos kept the home team at 10 points and thus led 10-15. In the second quarter, Thrylos continued the same pattern. With superb defense and amazing three point percentages, the Piraeus team maintained their lead above ten points with the half time closing at 25-35.
In the third quarter the hosts run a partial 6-0 and closed in 31-35, but Printezis, Spanoulis, Hunter and Lojeski had the answers. Mantzaris playing an incredible defensive game 'destroyed' Navarro and hence the difference was quickly back to two digit numbers (45-56 at 30'). In the last quarter, the 'reds' were storming through the game. Playing totalitarian basketball forced the fans of the home team to applaud them quite a few times and finally won the game 76-63.
The quarters: 10-15, 25-35, 45-56, 63-76.
Barcelona (Pasqual): Doellman 2, Hezonja 3 (1), Huertas 6, Abrines, Navarro 16 (4), Satoransky 8, Pleis 4, Thomas 1, Jackson 3 (1), Lampe 6, Nachbar, Tomic 14.
Olympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Hunter 8 (4 reb, 1bl), Dunston 4, Spanoulis 16 (4 3p, 1 reb, 5as), Papapetrou, Sloukas 2 (4as), Printezis 22 (2 3p, 9reb, 1as, 1st), Agravanis, Mantzaris 12 (4 3p.), Lafayette 3 (1 3p.), Darden, Lojeski 9 (2 3p, 7reb, 3as).
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: "It was a good game for us since we weren't happy at all with how we played in the first game. This defeat hurt our athletic ego. We showed character tonight. This was the big difference in the second game. The greatest proof is in the numbers, we won all four quarters, we had 20 assists and made only 8 turnovers. This is the result of what our players can achieve, they are the best and I congratulate them. We are waiting for Barcelona's reaction, it's only natural that they react as well. It's a long series. Printezis was decisive in the game. He's experienced and a 'key' player for us. He helped us in both offense and defense and rebounded as well. I don't want to talk about any individual player, but rather for all those who played and gave it their all. We are a team , we believe in the tea, in all our players, in the total group and we know that everyone can push us to victory. Tonight Spanoulis and Printezis made a great performance, but allow me not to stand on any one player, they were all excellent and we won as a team. We kept Barcelona at a very low scoring level and that was a victory for the whole team. When we said that it was us who lost the previous game and not Barcelona that won it, I did not mean that Barcelona is not a good team, on the contrary. They are an excellent team, but we did not appear on the first game. It's hard for the players to change their train of thinking in two days time, but we have players with experience and will. The fact that this was our team's first victory ever in Barcelona is good, but that is as far as it gets. We should not be thinking about it anymore. We need to be thinking about the next practice session and nothing else. This is the nature of a great team".
XAVI PASQUAL: "I would like to congratulate Olympiacos and thank our fans for their support. They blocked our game with their incredibly aggressive defense, we could not move the ball around, we weren't focused, we weren't determined, we were shooting threes poorly and hence we were trailing in the second half. We tried to react in the third quarter, but did not succeed. No matter how many times we tried to do it, they were better than us in all areas, in threes, in twos, in rebounding, in energy, in decision making, in everything. We knew they were going to react, but how could we put a stop to their amazing game tonight? We did not fight, we did not react, we had no answer whatsoever in any of the puzzles they presented us with tonight and thus we lost. The fact that Spanoulis returned healthy and we were missing Oleson and Doellman wasn't ready was a factor. But there are no excuses. When you are Barcelona, injuries are not important. We all need to look ahead and react. It is us that need to react, we did not play well. We still know nothing about Oleson, we'll wait and see and I really want to see him play in Greece. We need to play the perfect game in Greece if we want to win even one game".