Written on 25 November 2013. Posted in Games.

Three-pointers, victory and tying the record!

Olympiacos beat Apollon 93-71 for the seventh day of the A1 League and continues without defeats in and out of the Greek borders. The Back2Back European Champions scored 10/15 threes in the game and tied the best start ever in the history of the team, that is a 16-0 record from the 1997-98 season.

The game started with our team trying to impose the rhythm, but at the same time not succeeding in it, since plays could not materialize through defense. Apollon took advantage of the fact and stayed in close proximity to the score till the end of the first quarter, that was 16-15 for the Back2Back Champions of Europe.

In the second quarter, it was Matt Lojeski together with Sloukas and Begic that offered solutions in offence. Hence the team of Giorgos Bartzokas took a 9 points advantage at 17’ (36-27). Lack of concentration however in defense allowed the guests to come back with the half time ending 44-38.

With a partial 7-2 score in the first two minutes of the third quarter, the ‘reds” managed to make two digit difference for the first time (51-40). The players of Giorgos Bartzokas stepped on the gas as soon as Apollon tried to come back to the game and sent the difference to +14 (63-49) with a basket by Printezis, two minutes before the end of the quarter.

In the last ten minutes Olympiacos maintained two digit differences. Begic continued turning the passes received by Spanoulis into assists and the hosts were leading 77-63 at 35’. The Back2Back European Champions continued getting into rhythm from behind the 6.75m. arc and very comfortably reached the final 93-71.

Τhe quarters: 16-15, 44-38, 68-53, 93-71
Οlympiacos (Bartzokas): Petway 9 (3/3 3p), Dunston 6, Spanoulis 7 (1 3p, 10as), Perperoglou 8 (5 reb), Papapetrou 2 (4 reb), Sloukas 13 (2/2 3p), Lojeski 16 (2/2 3p, 8reb), Begic 16 (2bl), Printezis 10, Mantzaris 6 (2 3p.).
Αpollon Patras (Vetoulas): Hill 7 (1), Kaperonis 1, Τaylor 13 (1), Daniel 21, Lianos 10, Oikonomopoulos, Pelekoudas, Molfetas, Niforas, Trepalovac, Hot 4, Bolds 15 (1).

GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: «I would like to extend my condolences to the family of Mr. Andreas Molfetas and his family of Apollon Patras. He’s going to be missed by Greek basketball since he was a multifaceted personality. Apollon played very seriously once again. They have a direction and they deserve to be congratulated. On the other hand we completed a very bad period for us when we have been playing without fans in the gym and I think what’s been happening is only tiring for everyone. An already diminished motivation for such games in combination to the absence of Petrovic and Argyropoulos has decreased even more.Think of the difference between Euroleague games when we have our fans with us and the games we play without them. On one hand I get mad with my players; on the other I also try to understand them. We also almost made a World record of some kind. In 20 – 25 missed shots on our part we only got one offensive rebound at the end. It’s very characteristic of the spirit governing the game. It’s something we have pin pointed from the beginning of the season and we need to improve on it. I’m not satisfied from the first part of the game. Begic was playing better as the game was developing. It’s only natural, he comes from injury. He’s a “special” player that very often cannot find somebody to guard to his body mass. We need him to get into rhythm, same as Sloukas. And we also wanted to manage fatigue for those that have a lot of minutes in the Euroleague. Should Katsivelis was able to play tonight, Law would have been left out of the rotation. Days off are as important as practice ones. Simmons will be joining us again in about 7 or 8 days according to doctors. Our intention was not to get a new player. The issue is only medical. As for the winning record, we’ll be happy to surpass it. But what really makes us happy is winning goals and not breaking records”.

ΙOANNIS PAPAPETROU: “We began very loose, without any focus. It’s a problem we’ve been facing from the beginning of the season. We managed to get the victory and now we are focusing on the Thursday game. I don’t see my injury as bad luck, all athletes go through same kind of situations. The important thing is that the team keeps winning”.

ΜIRZA BEGIC: “I always try to do what’s best for the team. Unfortunately I suffered an injury that kept me behind and I’ve been having a lot of ups and downs, but I gradually become better and try to do what my coach asks from me. We still have a lot to do and plenty of time to do it”.

VANGELIS MANTZARIS: “We are not interested in records and numbers. We want to win as many games as possible and we look at one game at a time. We have to remain focused for 40 minutes at any game. We’ve been having some black outs during the games and we need to improve on them because they haven’t cost us so far but if we lose some important game in the TOP16 or Cup semifinal in OAKA, then we are going to have a problem. Playing in an empty gym is horrible. You play for the people to come and watch the game, otherwise we wouldn’t be playing for a league, but rather only friendly games. We want to the fans to come to the gym on Thursday and support us so as to continue giving back to the team”.

NIKOS VETOULAS : “It was a tough week for us mainly due to the loss of Mr. Andreas Molfetas who was a very important person not only for Apollon but also for the city of Patras. On the other hand it was difficult due to the home loss against Aris. We wanted to be competitive playing against Olympiacos and fight the best we could. The hosts had been better than us statistically speaking. We tried to stay in the game the longest possible. Congratulations to Olympiacos for their course up to now and I wish them the best to the end of the season”.

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