Stepping on the accelerator
Olympiacos stormed its way against Peristeri (105-57) and reached 17 victories for the A1 League. This has been the fifth broadest victory in the team history.
From the beginning of the game it was obvious that Olympiacos was going to have an easy afternoon. Antic, Printezis and Papanikolaou began the game fiercely and the first quarter ended 30-12.
Perperoglou and Gecevicius took the scoring baton in the second quarter and the difference got even broader, with half time closing at 58-24. The ‘reds’ had been exceptional in creation (i.e. 32 assists in the game) and with Mavroeidis doing a tremendous job, the third quarter ended 84-40.
Katsivelis, Papanikolaou and Perperoglou offered both substance and show in the last quarter and the game ended 105-57 for the European and Greek Champions.
Τhe quarters: 30-12, 58-24,84-40, 105-57
OLympiacos (Bartzokas): Law 2 (9as.), Antic 9 (4reb), Perperoglou 20 (2), Shermadini, Sloukas 11 (2), Mavroeidis 12 (9reb.), Powell 4 (5reb.), Gecevicius 19 (5), Printezis 13 (1), Papanikolaou 5 (1), Katsivelis 10 (2)
Peristeri (Κoustenis): Papadoniou 13, Kompodietas, Thorne 12 (3), Kanonidis 4, Psaropoulos 3, Mantzaris 9, Williams 2, Hines 7, Melissaratos, Ζoumpos 7 (1).
*Spanoulis and Georgakis did not make the 12 men roster, as well as Doron Perkins who is not eligible.
The statements of the front men
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: “Although it may sound odd, taking into account the difference, I would like to congratulate Dimitris (i.e. Koustenis) on a job well done. Peristeri plays well and they helped us play good basketball. My players were very generous with one another; they have 32 assists to show for it. My players tonight played to pass and not to shoot, to please their team mates. Today has been a good preparation day for us. I wish Dimitris (i.e. Koustenis) good luck. We are going to discuss about a change on Tuesday and after I discuss with my players, I’m going to make our decision public. Vangelis (i.e. Mantzaris) injury keeps hurting us every day. Even today. He was the player who knew our tactics better than anyone else. We now have to make a change in the roster. Nevertheless, Euroleague has plenty of games, should we with God’s help make the play-offs, then everyone is going to have a chance. It would have been a good chance for Perkins to play today, but like we had said before, we wanted him to first have a week of training. As soon as we confirm he runs our systems well on court, then he will immediately step in”.
DIMITRIS MAVROEIDIS: “We never thought about the difference between the two teams. We wanted to rehearse in view of the game against Besiktas and we played well, performing as we should have. We worked on some staff in view of the game in Turkey and I think we played well”.
ΔIMITRIS KOUSTENIS: “The level difference is chaotic in a game that was purely procedural. The game cannot stand any form of criticism, it was purely up to Olympiacos as to when they were going to step on the accelerator or not. We leave this behind us and we are already focusing on the game against Ikaros which we want to win and play well to reverse the situation. Olympiacos respected both them and us and showed how the teams ought to play. The guys have been putting their soul on the floor. We are now more aware of the danger as opposed to the beginning of the season. Each game is critical. The guys that have been trying the most feel the pressure. I’m troubled by our performance today, not because of Olympiacos, but because we weren’t able to do anything from what we had planned” the Greek coach said.
FOTIS ZOUMPOS: “It was obvious today why Olympiacos is one of the best teams in Europe. We had not been able to do anything from what we had planned; they punished us for each one of our mistakes, ran the fast-break and got an easy and very broad victory”.