Great win on the road
Olympiacos beat Panathinaikos Superfoods 79-77 in OAKA in a game for the Euroleague 8th day and holds a 5-3 record. Giorgos Printezis scored the winning basket.
Olympiacos started the game superbly. Spanoulis was creating, Birch would finish play after play and the Piraeus team got a six point lead from the start. However, the tempo opened up eventually, the two teams were shooting right on target from behind the 6.75 arc and the first quarter was tied at 23.
In the second quarter, Olympiacos continued with the foot on the accelerator. The tempo was not even a fraction slower and the Greek Champions were leading 39-47 at 20'. In the third quarter however, despite the fact that Olympiacos was controlling the game, Panathinaikos Superfoods with continuous threes turned the game around and took the lead (63-61).
In the last quarter, Hackett, who played an extraordinary game tonight, once again turned the game and Olympiacos with a 6-0 run made the score 63-67, for the hosts quickly to tie the game 67-67. The game was going point for point until the score was 76-76 and at that point and with Panathinaikos running the last offensive play, Sfairopoulos ordered a foul on Calathes who made the score 77-76 missing one free throw, hence giving the last offense to Olympiacos.
Spanoulis drew the whole defense of Panathinaikos Superfoods on him, passed an incredible assist to Printezis and he scored a two drawing a foul at the same time, leading to the final 77-79.
The quarters: 23-23, 39-47, 63-61, 77-79
Panathinaikos Superfoods (Xavi Pascual): Singleton 14 (2), Nichols, Rivers 14 (4), Bochoridis, Fotsis 13 (2), Pappas 9, Feldeine 3 (1), Bourousis 8 (1), Calathes Ν. 16 (1)
Οlympiacos (Giannis Sfairopoulos): Green 4, Birch 8, Young, Papapetrou 7 (1), Spanoulis 22 (4), Milutinov, Printezis 16 (1), Papanikolaou 2, Mantzaris 3 (1), Hackett 11 (2), Lojeski 6 (2)
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: "Good evening everyone! This victory covers for our defeat from Galata. We wanted to win because you always want to beat Panathinaikos, either you play them for the Greek League or the Euroleague. We lost our concentration in defense in the third quarter and this had an impact on our offense as well. We reacted in the beginning of the fourth quarter and the game became a real derby and it was very important that in the critical moment, in the fourth quarter, we only received 14 points. This was the key to winning the game. And that despite Panathinaikos having gained a three point lead, we turned the game. We deserved to win, because we controlled the game for its most part. Panathinaikos is a great team, they reacted, but we showed to have a strong character at that part of the game. We have a great roster and that's what I've been saying from the start. I trust all my players and expect from them always the max".
Asked about the foul Papanikolaou made on Calathes, the Greek coach said that "it was a coach's order, Calathes shoots free throws with a 57%, so I asked for a foul because we were out of time outs and should we had received a basket there would be no time to react".
On the use of Patric Young, the 49 year old coach said that "Young is getting better, it's been a year since his injury, he's getting better and he will continue to be getting better".
Asked about the 5-0 record against Panathinaikos Superfoods since last season's finals until today, the Greek coach answered that "I don't count such records; these are only for reporters to talk about".
VASSILIS SPANOULIS: "We were really focused. Great teams need to react. We fought a lot, we played good defense and got a big win in a very tough court. Each game against Panathinaikos is a big game, but we cope with it just like we do with all the rest of the games".
MATT LOJESKI: "At this moment, we have had a lot of winning games here. I certainly expected for Vassilis to score, he passed the ball to Giorgos however and he was the one to make the basket. We got a big win and I'm happy for it. There are many good games, difficult games even more than that, each game counts, we play every other day, so there are not many days to prepare. Mostly, we need to be mentally prepared and that's how we were" the Olympiacos American forward commented.
XAVI PASCUAL: "I wish to thank the fans, they helped us a lot. We tried to do the best we could tonight. We were not good defense wise in the first half, but we got a lot better in that part of the game in the second half. We had a lot of chance to win, but when we were up by 4 (76-72), a foul was called on block Singleton made on Spanoulis, which was really important for how the game evolved and we finally lost. Both games we lost lately, against Real and Olympiacos, we fought till the end. We know that losing Gist is problem for us in regard to competitiveness at that level, however, we succeeded in being competitive. Losing Gist was a huge shock, but we cannot be thinking about who's not playing; only the ones that can. I think that tonight we showed that we have overcome the defeat to Real and Gist's injury, since we almost won the game".
On the fact that the team had Dimitris Diamantidis to take action in crucial parts of the game but now he's not here, he said: "We need time to make these decisions and appoint someone to specifically take over the job Diamantidis was doing in the last minutes of the games. It's very complicated. This is a new era, the post-Diamantidis one and the team needs to gradually find its way".
"It's obvious that we could have been better in the last play. There are no arguments to make when you lose. We were leading by 4 or 5, Singleton blocked Spanoulis, Spanoulis got a foul and free throws, in the next play Calathes' shot bounced off the rim, we lost a ball in the center of the court and that's a synopsis of how we got to lose. It's obvious we made some mistakes in the last minutes, just like against Real and we need to improve. It's also possible that the guys have been trying very hard and they possibly lack energy at the end. Especially when injuries shorten your rotation".
On the defensive game of the first 20 minutes: "We were very bad at pick n' roll in the first half, we received 18 points, we never stopped the ball and they attacked us there. Spanoulis played his game at that point, which we shouldn't have allowed. Olympiacos was shooting very well tonight".
On the last play and the off target three by Fotsis: "The choices were among Fotsis, Rivers and Bourousis under the basket. We had the ball courtside and we had to make the best choice possible, but we could not get the player we had wanted to have an advantage and the play was not right".
"The level of the Euroleague is very high and a detail can make you the winner or the loser. From the moment I came to the team, all the games are decided by details. That's how we lost to Efes, that's how we lost to Real, just like we lost today, while against Bamberg and Maccabi it was us that won at the end. We now need to move forward, we don't want to get stalled by this loss. It's a long season…"