Olympiacos took the first step towards Istanbul
Olympiacos made the break and now has the advantage to qualify to the Istanbul Final Four. The Dusan Ivkovic’ players played a great game and at the end took what they wanted in the presence of Giorgos Angelopoulos and 50 fans of the team.
Olympiacos won 82-75, despite playing without Vassilis Spanoulis during the last five minutes of the game, who got fouled out.
The game was a derby from the beginning to the end, with the Italians keeping the lead throughout and even having a ten point game at 31’. At that point however, Olympiacos defense closed in with Dorsey acting as a … goalie and Law and Printezis providing important offensive solutions.
Τhe quarters: 26-21, 48-42, 66-58, 75-82
Per quarter: 26-21, 22-21, 18-16, 9-24
Siena (Pianigiani): McCalebb 15(1), Ζisis 4, Andersen 26(2), Rakosevic 11(1), Carrarreto, Thornton 4, Lavrinovic, Ress 2, Stonerook 6, Aradori, Moss 5(1).
Οlympiacos (Ivkovic): Hines 13, Antic 4, Spanoulis 15(1), Dorsey 6, Keselj 8(2), Gecevicius, Printezis 20(3), Papanikolaou 5, Mantzaris, Sloukas, Law 8.
DUSAN IVKOVIC: I think it was a very hard and tough game. We deserved that break. It was a game with two faces. We played very poor defense in the first quarter, made mistakes and Siena had been excellent. We remained close to the score and knew that we would have our chance in the second half. It was a team victory, but now we have to get ready for the second game.
The difference with last season is very simple. We have more energy, but nothing has changed. We have only gotten the home court advantage and we continue. Last year, we fell “asleep” after the 48 points victory; it’s not going to be the same this year. We have sincere respect for Siena and we have to prepare one game at a time. There is no favorite for the series, not even now. I don’t think that the first game is the most important. I think that each game is equally important and making the break does not mean anything.
SIMONE PIANIGIANI: We managed to get a ten points lead, but we weren’t able to keep it to the end. Olympiacos has a very athletic team and we had to put in a lot of energy, that’s why we used all of our players. Olympiacos got us tired and we made some bad shots and mistakes that put them in the game. The fouls on Lavrinovic forced us to use Andersen for a long time and we did not find many solutions from the big guys. Some details at certain moments changed the momentum of the game. We must play better defense, especially in the basket, have more energy and I hope Andersen makes an equally exceptional game and receives more help. We need to see at one game at a time because we controlled the game tonight for three quarters and we still lost it.
ΚYLE HINES: We only made 1-0 and we now have to get ready for the Friday game. The series ends with three victories and we are perfectly aware of that. I wasn’t the MVP, it was a team victory and I’m happy for all the guys.
GIORGOS PRINTEZIS: “For sure we played without any rhythm at the beginning and we did not play at the level we could have. We showed more concentration in the last minutes, played according to what we had worked and won. The coach has been prioritizing on defense from the beginning of the season. We did not play well at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth, but then we found rhythm.
For me, this victory does not mean anything! We won and made 1-0. Just like we damaged them tonight, they can damage us in Piraeus. There is still one more game here. The series is still a long one”.