Bad performance and a loss…
Olympiacos lost 82-66 to Barcelona for the premiere of the Euroleague TOP-16 second round.
The team of Giannis Sfairopoulos lost by 16 in Barcelona, did not even succeed to keep the +12 difference from the first round victory and now has to at least win five out of the six remaining games. The Greek Champions, with the exception of the first quarter, were bad in Barcelona and they are now aiming to yet another big upset.
THE DEFENSE: Olympiacos made a lot of mistakes, lost a lot of rebounds and allowed the Catalans to play their game. Thus, the home team found rhythm, especially in the second quarter, when Olympiacos seemed very hesitant in the defense which cost the team dearly.
THE OFFENSE: Unbelievably poor shooting and wrong choices. The free throw percentage was bad except for the first five minutes in the game, the offense never functioned according to the coach’s plans.
THE MVP: Nobody from the Piraeus players can claim the title following such a bad performance and loss.
KEEPS, FORGETS: What should have been maintained was at least the +12 of the first game, but unfortunately this did not happen either. So, the advantage against the Catalans went to waste. Keeps the fact that nothing is lost yet, there are still six games and if Olyfmpiacos wins them all, then there are a lot of chances to qualify to the Euroleague play-offs.
THE POINTS
The quarters: 19-19, 45-31, 71-47, 82-66
Barcelona (Pasqual): Dorsey 12, Ribas 6 (1), Navarro 13 (2), Satoranksy 14 (2), Samuels 11, Oleson 5 (1), Arroyo 2, Perperoglou 16 (3), Tomic 3.
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Johnson-Odom 3, Hunter 5, Papapetrou 4, Spanoulis 11, Strawberry 3 (1), Milutinov 2, Printezis 12 (1), Agravanis 9 (1), Mantzaris, Hackett 16 (2), Papanikolaou 1, Athinaiou.
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: “Congratulations to Barcelona for its victory. They fought very hard, more than we did and deserved to win. It was a tough game for us, we knew it and knew that should we have won we could cover for one of the two unexpected defeats of the first round. Unfortunately though, we did not fight as much as we could have. We began the game well, we got a seven point lead, but Barcelona came back, we allowed five easy points at the end of the first quarter and then the game was tied. Our defense wasn’t effective in the second quarter, mainly due to our bad offensive game. Some shots out of target, some missed free throws, “hurt” our defensive rhythm as well. When we allowed Barcelona to shoot 65% with twos and 67% with threes that produces 45 points, they were already in rhythm. These percentages are too big. We said at half time that we needed to stop that, not allow them to continue the same way, but they made some big shots in the third quarter. We tried to return and keep the +12 of the first game, we closed in at 15, but at the end, some shots we missed did not even allow for that. Congratulations to Barcelona, the group is tough and we continue. I believe we have many chances to qualify”.
Giannis Sfairopoulos was asked on whether the player that changed the team dynamics was Joey Dorsey and the Greek coach pointed out that “Dorsey is an experienced players, a Euroleague player that knows all too well the importance of such games. He scored crucial points and was good defensively, but Barcelona has a lot of players like that and I think that they were good tonight as a whole”.
Asked on the chanced to qualification, the Greek Champions’ coach answered that “it’s not easy to play against Barcelona, CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid on the road. We have played these games and we are now playing four games at home and two on the road. I believe in the power of the home court, in the power of our team and in my players and I believe we can make it”.
GIORGOS PRINTEZIS: “It was a tough result for us tonight, we allowed Barcelona to find rhythm and they deserved to win. We are in a tough spot right now, but we represent Olympiacos and we need to give all we have to qualify to the play offs. We have still six games ahead of us, I think qualification is in our hands, we play four games at home and two on the road, we’ll do everything to win them all”.
STRATOS PERPEROGLOU: «We were with our back against the wall and there is always pressure for a team like Barcelona. We succeeded in taking that pressure and turn it into motivation. We played very well in our defense and that gave us the boost we needed in our offense, winning the game and also getting the necessary point difference. It’s quite the tough group and we need to first defend our home court in the following games