A shocking defeat at Drama
Olympiacos suffered a shocking defeat against KAOD 75-69 in a game for the 11th day of the Greek League.
Our team did not start the game well. The Back2Back European Champions defense lacked concentration and thus KAOD succeeded in taking a 14-9 lead after five minutes into the game. However, in the next five minutes, the ‘reds’ ran an 11-0 streak and took the lead (14-20) with the first quarter ending 16-20 for our team.
Defensive problems continued into the second quarter. Olympiacos with Lojeski, Mantzaris and Perperoglou maintained the lead, but could not build a difference. The Piraeus team was shooting badly and was nervous in offense and without concentration in defense hence the hosts were leading 37-36 at half-time.
Olympiacos somewhat improved its defensive performance in the third quarter, but could not still find any rhythm in offense. Giorgos Bartzokas, the Back2Back European Champions’ coach, trying different formations was trying to find a solution to the ‘reds’ problems, but the hosts were always close with the score being 48-51 at 28’ and the third quarter ending 55-58.
In the beginning of the last quarter KAOD took the lead at 31’ after a long time (63-58). The hosts ran a partial 18-7, had a 73-65 lead at 39’ and our team was finally defeated 75-69.
Τhe quarters: 16-20, 37-36, 55-58, 75-69.
KAOD (Markovic): Slaftsakis 4, Jones 4, Stiggers 6, Brown 25 (2), Von 9, Markovic 7 (1), Spyridonidis 1, Bavcic 19 (2), Zaras.
Olympiacos (Bartzokas): Law, Dunston 6 (6reb), Perperoglou 12, Papapetrou 3 (1), Sloukas 10, Simmons 6 (8reb), Lojeski 17 (10 reb), Begic, Printezis 3 (1), Mantzaris 10 (2), Katsivelis 2.
NENAD MARKOVIC: “The game went exactly where we wanted it to go. We knew that Olympiacos was coming from a defeat for the Cup and knew that they would either come hungry for a good performance and a victory or they would come with a poor psychology after their elimination. Finally, it was the second that happened and we scored a huge victory against the European Champion. I think that the guys, especially after the first half, really believed they could pull it through. They played very hard from the first to the last second and we got a huge and fair victory. We were lucky because Olympiacos missed a lot of free throws; we controlled the rebounds and reached this huge result. We made some mistakes at the end, but when you beat the European Champion you cannot discuss mistakes and analyze them, but you only need to enjoy this huge victory. I wish to the coach and to Olympiacos all the best and good luck with the championship and the Euroleague. We don’t change our goals after his victory, we aim at saving the category, but we definitely are more optimistic right now. It will not be enough to beat teams of the likes of Panionios and Olympiacos, but we also need to edge teams at our level to come to our target sooner than later”.
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: “Congratulations to KAOD and the coach, they played well, they were patient and got a fair victory. We were inexplicably nervous, we were in a bad psychological condition, we lost the rebounds once again, did not go after challenged shots, did not run the floor and the more time went by, KAOD was gaining confidence and reached a deserved victory. We hadn’t lost a game until a week ago and now we have already lost two. It is certain that the first loss had an impact as to the second one. We now need to work, see what it we are doing wrong at this time and work together to return to victories. We can achieve nothing with performances like this one, with performances like the ones we used to make we can go very far. Absences, illness and injuries are not excuses, especially for teams of this range. Law complained about discomfort in his knee before the game and at half-time said he could play no more”.
EDWIN BAVCIC: “Congratulations to my team mates, I think we played against the best team in Europe and succeeded. We started to believe in victory during the game, we fought hard and went through. We won a fantastic victory”.
MATT LOJESKI: “I think we came on the floor without energy. We may have been leading at first, but the opponent stayed close and they felt they could win the game as time went by. When they took the lead they started to believe even more and thus reached victory”.