All went wrong
Olympiacos lost 79-73 to Real Madrid for the 28th day of the Euroleague and it's very difficult to obtain one of the two first seeds. Lojeski's situation is worrisome.
Our team began the first quarter well and led Real Madrid 20-19. In the second quarter, Olympaicos improved on the defensive part, was attacking properly and half - time was tied 37-37.
The team of Giannis Sfairopoulos, who played without Giorgos Printezis, continued playing good basketball on both ends of the floor into the third quarter, but the Madrilenes made some crazy shots to make the score 54-58.
In the last quarter, each time Olympiacos was trying to turn the situation around, the Spaniards had the answers. Finally, Real won and the worst incident of the night happening only seconds before the end of the game, when Matt Lojeski got injured.
The quarters: 20-19, 37-37, 54-58, 73-79
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Green 7 (1), Birch, Young 4, Papapetrou 4, Spanoulis 9 (2), Waters 2, Agravanis 10 (1), Milutinov 18, Papanikolaou 11 (1), Mantzaris 5 (1), Lojeski 3 (1).
Real Madrid (Laso): Randolph 21 (1), Draper, Fernandez, Doncic 4, Maciulis 7 (1), Reyes 4, Ayon 2, Carroll 2, Hunter 10, Llull 10 (2), Tompkins 3 (1), Τaylor 5 (1).
THE QUOTES
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: "Discipline is major for me and I don't care winning a game, so long discipline is gone. There was such an incident with Birch, but there is no need to give more attention to it than what I have already given it. Everyone needs to understand that they play for a big team with principles that they need to respect. Unfortunately we lost a derby, but we are worried about Lojeski right now. It was a great battle between the two teams, Real got a small difference at the end that was enough to get them the victory. We managed to keep Real's scoring at low levels, they score 90 points per game. We could have avoided some easy baskets, especially at fast break. We missed a lot of lay ups and had seven failed fast breaks. We move forward, we want to fight the next two games to see where we finish. I'd like to thank all the fans that came to support us and hope to have sold outs from now on".
IOANNIS PAPAPETROU: «We missed many easy baskets, easy points. It's strange it was a closed game. We were good on the defensive end for quite some time. We made mistakes. Should we had made the easy baskets we would have more chances to win. I'm ready to do whatever they need me to do. I wish Matt is well, it's very tough with the injuries. We want to win all games. We are focusing on our team and we are going to prepare to face whoever comes in our path».
PABLO LASO: "Congratulations to my players for the victory. We know how tough it is to win in Athens. Olympiacos is a great team, with a lot of guts. We made a very good effort. We have had some problems with offensive rebounding, especially from Milutinov, but we got better in the second half and controlled the game better. I'm happy for the victory but sad for Lojeski's injury that seems to be serious. I hope it isn't that much".