First defeat and elimination
Olympiacos was faced with its first loss this season (lost 67-59 to Panathinaikos at OAKA) and was eliminated from the Greek Cup Final.
The game started with our team leading 7-8 following a three by Vangelis Mantzaris at 3’. Many lost defensive rebounds “cost” our team and the Back2Back European Champions came trailing 19-13, while the first quarter ended 20-16 in favor of the hosts.
The ‘reds’ ran a partial 11-2 in the second quarter and succeeded in turning the situation and take a 21-24 lead. The two teams continued head-by-head and half-time closed 35-34 for Panathinaikos following a bucket by Acie Law.
Our team was not making good offensive choices in the third quarter, was scoreless for about six minutes and hence the hosts maintained the lead with the quarter ending 45-44.
In the last quarter, our team tied the game (50-50), Lojeski missed the opportunity to put our team ahead, Perperoglou made the score 54-53, but from that point on our team did not have a clear mind set in offense, lost too many defensive rebounds once again and thus the 67-59 defeat and the elimination from the Cup Final.
Τhe quarters: 20-16, 35-34, 45-44, 67-59
Panathinaikos (Pedoulakis): Jankovic, Maciulis 11, Bramos 12 (1), Curry 9 (1), Batiste 5, Fotsis 2, Lasme 9, Mavrokefalidis, Diamantidis 10 (2), Gist 3, Pappas 6.
Olympiacos (Bartzokas): Petway 3, Law 5 (1), Dunston 8, Spanoulis 8 (2), Perperoglou 8 (2), Mantzaris 6 (2), Sloukas 13 (3), Simmons 3, Lojeski, Begic, Printezis 5.
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: “Panathinaikos seemed to want the game more. They were hungrier for every challenge ball. The game was not good; there were too many mistakes, missed shots. We had many players that did not play up to the standards. Some of our foreigners that experienced this atmosphere for the first time seemed to be influenced by it, but also some of our experienced ones. Congratulations to Panathinaikos for their victory. It was their doing as well as the well-known ref’s Mr. Tanatzis. A minute before the end of the game free throws were 25-4 in favor of the host. They also got Mr. Schinas calls. We never won free throws when we drove to the basket”.
KOSTAS SLOUKAS: “We had expected a very tough game. We lost the worst possible way tonight, since there was a title at stake. Olympiacos does not stop here, we have two basic goals and we are focusing on the next day”.
ARGYRIS PEDOULAKIS: “It was a nervous game. Olympiacos was in excellent condition. Our defense has been the key; Olympiacos is very good at moving the ball. We showed better spirit and more energy. Maciulis was posting all the time. We did not get carried away, but the ball in the post and risked in our defense leaving open shots to Olympiacos. When a team cannot penetrate defense, problems arise. I would like to mention two of my players that played without actually having practiced, Maciulis and Pappas, who were both excellent. They helped us very much. Good luck to Olympiacos. These teams go after titles and we made an important step towards winning one. We have some issues that we hope to have solved after the holidays”.
RAMEL CURRY: “Thankfully we got a great victory and no one got injured. It’s a crazy competitive game. We knew we had to play well and did that quite effectively”.