The fans signed the epilogue

After the Thursday results, the game against CSKA Moscow for the last day of the 2015-16 Euroleague TOP-16 was of no interest whatsoever. However, the presence of 9000 fans at the Peace and Friendship Stadium and the extended applause at the end of the game, despite the defeat 99-96 to the Russians, gave a different aura and meaning for the said game.

The ‘reds’ are not participating the Euroleague play-offs after 10 years in a row, but no one from those at the gym had any complaints from the company of Spanoulis and Printezis.

On the contrary. The fans were there to support the team. And maybe they did not beat the Russians, but they fought till the end of the game and never quit, just like they are used to doing all these past years.

THE DEFENSE: There are many who believe that defense is an issue of will and in a game where no ranking benefit was to be gained, it was only natural for that will to be absent. That’s what happened at the Peace and Friendship Stadium. The Olympiacos players played good defense in the second and third quarter and very bad defense in the first and the fourth ones. Especially in the perimeter.

THE OFFENSE: Despite not being effective in defense, the players of Giannis Sfairopoulos were more than happy to oblige offense wise. Lojeski’s return offered extra solutions and thus the rest of the players found it easier to get into rhythm. The reds were also very keen at offensive rebounding.

THE MVP: The fans. For yet another game, the Olympiacos’ fans stood by the team, but this time their support was even more important because the game was of no importance and the disqualification had naturally brought disappointment. Nevertheless, they were there to cheer for the ‘Thrylos’ players.

KEEPS, FORGETS: Matt Lojeski is back and proved how much the team has missed him all these months.The American players is not ready yet, but it’s certain that time will work in his favor.

Τhe quarters: 25-33, 45-50, 69-64, 96-99
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Johnson-Odom 7 (2), Hunter 11, Papapetrou 4, Spanoulis 17 (3), Strawberry, Milutinov 6, Agravanis 8, Mantzaris 12 (2), Warrick 2, Hackett 6 (1), Lojeski 18 (2), Papanikolaou 5.
CSKA (Ιtoudis): De Colo 20, Kulagin Κ., Teodosic 13 (2), Fritzon 11 (2), Nichols 5 (1), Jackson 13 (1), Lazarev 4, Vorontsevich 10 (1), Higgins 5 (1), Kurbanov 11 (2), Hines 7.

The quotes

GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: «It’s a tough time, we are not playing the play-offs, we are very sad for that. It’s not time to analyze what went wrong, the season is still on, what I do need to address though is that when you have so many players getting injured, key players, then you are at a great disadvantage. To prove that, Lojeski came back after two months and tonight it was obvious how much we have missed him, although he’s not 100% yet.
Olympiacos is a great team, they have a lot of success and situations like that only make us stronger, they cannot bring us down. We are a team that keeps on fighting.

Everyone is greatly disappointed. We have fought against a team that is the favorite, we have fought to the end and with all we’ve got. That’s what we will keep on doing. Our focus is now on the Championship, which is the last and main goal for us.

We are the Champions and we want to continue working, reach the finals and win the title. We need to regroup, we have players that are really beat up and others that suffer minor injuries. We need to rest some of our players, we the last game for the Regulation and we need to win it to maintain home court advantage and then we are going to check who we play in the first play-offs round. We need to do our part against Rethymno. The applause of the fans is worth mentioning, the fans were touching and when things are not going well for you, but you still get applauded, that gives you strength, so we thank them for that. They should know that we are going to do our best to win the title.

We are happy to have basketball fans and there are times when the team will not be able to achieve its goals. When you see the fans support you this way, you have nothing to be afraid of. It’s a great support system, we are at the receiving end of something great, it gives us strength and courage for what’s to come. Many games were decided by details. The system proved not to be fair. We were first in the Regular season but were placed in a very difficult group and now we are out.

I don’t think that either I or the team are in doubt. I trust my team. No team is invincible. The most important thing is for the team to be applauded, I’m proud to be with Olympiacos, I’m doing the best I can. The important thing is for the team to be doing well. We want the team to go well and we’ll keep trying with all we’ve got. The fans understand that there is a big effort done here and they support us. Our work is of a very high level. We suffered a lot of injuries.

On that pivotal game that sealed disqualification: “The pivotal game was the one we lost at home against Bamberg. That really cost us. We’ll do this at the end, I have a clear head, it’s not to be done now. We’ll make the final assessment at the end. It’s not time to do this now, we still have a long way to go. We need to get over injuries. Hackett has been playing with a torn tendon for two weeks now”.

On the new Euroleague format: «With the new format, it’s going to be five times when we are going to have to play two Euroleague games within the same week. This means that we are going to have play four games in 8 days, from one Sunday to another! I’m not only talking about us, this affects all the teams”.

VASSILIS SPANOULIS: “It’s not a time to reflect on the season. We’ll do that at the end, after the championship is over. We are not used to being left outside of important battles. We have worked miracles in Europe in that past few years. We don’t like it, but we need to keep our heads high. We are playing for a great team. We need to play the play-offs and go after our final goal. We did not play up to our standards, but there are no excuses. A huge thanks to the fans, who came to watch an indifferent game at the gym and cheered for us. For me, this is worth more than a title. It proves that all we have done in the past seasons count and that the fans love us. This gives us the boost we need to go after our next goal. There is no Olympiacos without our fans. We play for a historical team. We all want to show that we respect its shirt. For the fans, for the team, for our history. We fought and gave our best”.

VANGELIS MANTZARIS: «There is disappointment. We have learned to be among the elite of Europe, but unfortunately, we did not make it this season. We are disappointed and sad, but we have to look ahead. We need to change our way of thinking. What’s done is done. We need to continue so as to win the Championship. There are many mistakes we done and we need to correct. We have to win the Championship and we need to work together to become better”.