Unstoppable!
Olympiacos beat Kolossos Rhodes 70-59 for the 17th day of the STOIXIMAN.GR Basket League and remained at the top of the ranking.
The 'reds' began the game in an impressive fashion in the first quarter and were leading 2-9 and 6-12 with Birch and Printezis doing all the work in the offense. However, in the second half of the first quarter, the hosts turned the game around to make the score 18-16. In the second quarter, each time the Greek Champions were trying to "built' a difference, weren't able to establish it as well, due to a horrible free throws shooting percentage, so half time was tied at 35 points.
In the beginning of the second half, the hosts were leading by six (41-35), but then Olympiacos just stepped up and disappeared from the horizon. At first with great defensive plays and with a 14-0 streak, the Greek champs run a partial 41-49 and with a partial 5-20 in the last six minutes of the third quarter, the team of Giannis Sfairopoulos made the score 46-55, despite the absence of Vasilis Spanoulis. The Olympiacos captain left the game with a lower abductor problem just before the end of the third quarter.
In the last quarter, the Piraeus team tightened their defense even more and Kolossos Rhodes wasn't even able to complete an offensive play on occasion, with the difference climbing to +13 (51-64) at 35'. They run a partial 8-0 next, closing in at 59-64 at 38'. Olympiacos replied with a partial 6-0 and everything was over.
THE POINTS
The quarters: 18-16, 35-35, 46-55, 59-70
Kolossos Rhodes (Lykogiannis): Reddic 10, Chuku 5, Releford 7, Vasilopoulos 7, Hall 13 (1), Liapis, Saloustros 2, Ahonen 8 (2), Papadakis, Watchon 4, Georgalis 3 (1).
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Birch 11 (6reb), Printezis 11 (4reb), Papanikolaou 13 (2 3p., 4reb), Mantzaris 4 (1 3p, 5reb), Spanoulis 5 (5as), Green 2, Papapetrou 4, Waters 2, Αgravanis 2, Milutinov 6 (8reb), Lojeski 10 (1 3p, 6reb).
THE QUOTES
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: «First of all, I would like to thank big the Rhodes fans for the welcome. The memories will always be with me, I spent three years here and I always remember them. In regard to the game, we knew it was going to be a tough game, against a serious and good team. A team that has had seven home victories in a row, they had only lost their first game at home, AEK and PAOK have lost here, we knew we had to remain focused for forty minutes. We did not play well in the first half, we had bad defensive reaction to the pick n' roll, we did not move the ball well in offense, made a lot of mistakes, received a lot of points at fast break because we lacked concentration. In the second half we improved the defense, kept our opponent low with scoring twos and that was the key. We built a difference at the beginning of the last quarter and kept it to the end. I repeat, we knew that Kolossos is a very good team and that's why I congratulated my players for their second half performance. I wish Kolossos all the best. They have one of the best rosters in their history, they know what they are looking for on the floor, they are a very well worked team by Mr. Lykogiannis».
VANGELIS MANTZARIS: «It's an important victory for us for what comes next in the League and winning the first place. We did not play as we would have wanted to in the first half, but we played exactly like we had wanted to in the second half, seriously and with solid defensive principles. We received 24 points in the second half and that was where the game was decided for me».
GIORGOS PRINTEZIS: «They were coming from a seven home games winning streak. Combined to a lot of back to back games for us and the very good team Kolossos has, it was going to be a tough evening and we knew that. We began the second half with concentration, energy and won. We know that the season is tough, it's long and there are going to be injuries like Vasilis has just had one. It would be better if there was no break and we were playing for the Cup final, but now we have to take advantage of every free minute to rest».