Easy victory
Olympiacos made a power performance against Trikala, won 84-45 and reached 22 continuous victories in all competitions.
From the first second of the game Olympiacos was a demolishing machine. The Back2Back Champions of Europe after five minutes into the game managed to lead 11-0. Simmons and Printezis were excellent and the first quarter ended 25-7.
The ‘reds’ kept up the rhythm into the second quarter. Perperoglou and Printezis were unstoppable in offense. The defense of the Giorgos Bartzokas players was excellent and Olympiacos was leading 41-15 at half-time.
Nothing changed into the third quarter. Olympiacos was the absolute dominator. Giorgos Bartzokas gave minutes, tried different rotations, but never changed anything in regard to the team tempo. The difference was maintained above 30 points with the third quarter ending 61-27.
The same in the last quarter as well, with defense going strong, Simmons reaching 5 blocks, Printezis and Perperoglou marking the offense and the game ending 84-45.
The quarters: 25-7, 41-15, 61-27, 84-45
Olympiacos (Bartzokas): Petway, Law 8 (4as), Dunston 2, Spanoulis 3 (1), Perperoglou 16 (2), Papapetrou 6 (1), Sloukas 8 (1), Simmons 8 (6reb, 5bl), Begic 8 (8reb), Printezis 22 (2 3p., 12reb), Mantzaris 3 (1), Katsivelis.
Trikala (Flevarakis): Evans 10, Perunisic, Ewing 10, Giannakidis 2, Petrovic, Lekakis, Granger 12, Deligiannis 2, Fountas, Nikolopoulos 2, Georgakis 4, Moutakabhir 3 (1).
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: «Trikala have been very competitive up to now, based on how late they were assembled. They have won the games they should have in the first round and maybe more. The particular game had nothing to offer to either teams. We just wanted to give minutes, for example to Simmons not for ranking purposes but rather to have him incorporated again. I think we did well up to now in both Greece and in Europe. It was our last game here before Christmas and we wish to thank our fans for their support.”
CENDRICK SIMMONS: «We wish to thank Trikala for trying to have a good game. It’s a good thing we won. We executed our plan well from the beginning and reached an easy victory. I’ve been training with the team this last week and I think I’m in pretty good shape. Five blocks is a good number and I think I was quite aggressive in offense as well”.
KOSTAS FLEVARAKIS: «I would like to say that according to my opinion we did not play against one of the best teams in Europe, but rather with the best team in Europe by far. I wish they repeat their European success once again, because they can. We could not be aggressive, we cannot say a lot. I would have liked us to play with less fear. What comes next is very crucial for us, so we have to try and maybe re-enforce our team during the holidays. Olympiacos is a very well structured team and if they maintain the same tempo I think the only thing that can beat them is the burden of being the favorites”.
GIORGOS FOUNTAS: «We were playing against one of the best teams in Europe in their home court, we tried to be competitive. Our games that follow are extremely important, if we manage to win we’ll get very close to our goal which is saving the category”.
Highlights... Photo Gallely... {myFlickr}feed=photoset, photoset_id=72157638675513004, layout=table, columns=3, style=css6, gallery=lightbox{/myFlickr}