A victory in Rethymno
Olympiacos bested Rethymno 70-63 for the 23rd day of the STOIXIMAN.GR Basket League and remains at the top ranking spot.
Spanoulis and Printezis were leading in the beginning of the game, but the Cretans had the answer and with 6-0 streak at the end of the first quarter made the score 18-19. In the second quarter, the defense play for the Greek champs got tighter and with offensive contribution from a multitude of players and half time was 32-36. In the third quarter, Olympiacos tried to "end" the game, but a few "crazy" shots by the hosts kept the game alive. Nevertheless, the defense of the Greek champs was impenetrable. Olympiacos ran a partial 5-15 in the first seven minutes of the last quarter, sent the difference to +16 (50-66) and all was over somewhere at that point.
THE POINTS
The quarters: 18-19, 32-36, 45-51, 63-70.
Rethymno (Vetoulas): Kottas, Christodoulou 4, Arnold 9 (1), Fitzpatrick 6 (2), Lemon 18 (2), Razis, Schaftenaar 6 (2), Talton 4, Kamperidis 5 (1), Panaretakis, Theodoridis, Giannopoulos 11 (2).
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Μilutinov 6 (5reb), Printezis 8 (3reb), Papanikolaou 4 (4reb), Μantzaris 2, Spanoulis 12 (2 3p, 5reb, 7as), Birch 15 (6reb), Young 2, Papapetrou 5 (1 3p), Waters 6, Αgravanis 6 (1), Αthinaiou 4.
THE QUOTES
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: "It was an important game for us. We won through our defense. Rethymno is a team that relies on tempo, they are exceptional at home, with good scorers and good rhythm. We disorganized their game through our defense, and did not allow more than a few streaks in the game. Our defense gave us the victory, we could have been better with our offense, but we took open shots, made some good plays. The most important part is that we had the control of the game. Rethymno deserves congratulations on their course through this season".
Asked whether there is a lack of energy due to two Euroleague games a week, the Greek coach was clear «Of course there is an energy issue following games like that, but that's not an excuse. There are no excuses. If you want to be first everywhere, you will always have to play with the same energy and give 100%».
The next question was on how the absence of Lojeski is going to be covered for «First of all, the good thing is that the injury is not very severe. It's very unfortunate for Matt and a great loss for our team. We are going to cover for him from within. Papapetrou has proved to be able to play the "3" position, Athinaiou should be ready also, he was quite good tonight, he's ready. I've said it before. All players need to be ready because the team needs them».
ΙOANNIS PAPAPETROU: «I would like to congratulate Rethymno for their performance. We needed to be serious tonight, play a good game and it's important that apart from winning, we would like to improve through these games and we won things tonight. We managed to build a margin at the end, it could have been broader. We are now focusing on the game against Anadolu Efes».