Easy win in Patras
Olympiacos bested Apollon Patras on the road 87-70 in a game for the 19th day of the STOIXIMAN.GR Basket League and still ranks first.
Our team made an impressive entry to the game. Green and Birch were on … fire and Olympiacos was leading 15-26 at the end of the first quarter. The margin was up to 22 points (18-40) amidst the second quarter, but loosened defense and lack of concentration allowed the hosts to run a partial 18-2 to make a six points game (36-42). Finally, half time ended with the Greek Champs leading 40-48.
At the beginning of the second half, the Patras team trailing by seven (48-55), but a partial 11-0 made the score 48-66 at 28'. Defense was much better in comparison to the first quarter, percentages were better, turnovers were less and the difference once again touched +20 for the Piraeus team. The third quarter was 53-70 for an absolutely dominant Olympiacos.
The difference was up to 23 at the beginning of the last quarter (55-78) and it was somewhere at that point that everything was over and thoughts were already targeting Tel Aviv and the game against Maccabi. The Piraeus team was playing a solid game, Giannis Sfairopoulos was giving minutes, trying different line ups and Patric Young got to step on the floor again after quite some time. The difference was close to 20 points (68-87) and the game was finally over at 70-87.
THE POINTS
The quarters: 15-26, 40-48, 53-70, 70-87.
Apollon (Skourtopoulos): Hickey 14 (3), Bart 6, Slaftsakis, Kalinoski 9 (1), Raines 2, Stockton 7, Verginis 9 (3), Diamantakos 8, Kouzelogou 8 (1), Tsiaras 5 (1).
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Green 13 (3), Birch 12 (6reb, 1st), Printezis 4, Papanikolaou 10 (2reb, 4as), Μantzaris 2 (5reb, 5as), Young, Papapetrou 15 (2 3p, 5reb), Waters 5 (1 3p, 3 reb, 4as), Agravanis 3 (1 3p, 2reb) Milutinov 11, Lojeski 9 (1 3p, 7reb, 3as), Αthinaiou 3 (1 3p, 1reb).
THE QUOTES
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: "Good evening everyone, tonight we played against a team that only wants to win. They have won five out of nine games and had wanted to play a good game, be competitive and if possible, 'steal' the game. I believe we made a very good beginning, we played good defense, Apollon is a team with a lot of good offensive players, they can easily score, but we were focused, did not allow them to get into rhythm, and they only scored 15 points in the first quarter. We were very productive in our offense and somewhere there, when the difference was up to 22 points (18-40), relaxed our defense, made five back to back turnovers when attacking, Apollon scored seven threes in 7':30'' and got really close. We talked a little during the break, we said we needed to continue being focused, not to relax, because Apollon is a team that relies on rhythm. and if they get into it, they can score with ease, since they have a lot of talented players. This was the case in the second half, we were playing good for longer periods, we started out with focus, built a quite good difference and I think we had control of the game throughout the second half and we did not experience the seven minute 'black out' of the first one. The way the game evolved, it was only fair we won. I wish Apollon to achieve their goals".
IOANNIS PAPAPETROU: We built a large margin at the beginning, but made some mistakes that did not help us maintain it. We had to play that way for 40 minutes and avoid 'dead' spans. When you are a serious team, you have to play correctly for 40 minutes. The fans offered substantial support, they came here for us and we would like to thank them and dedicate them with the victory. What comes next is tough, we need to remain focused and move on.