All will be decided at home
Olympiacos lost 71-58 to Panathinaikos Superfoods for the fourth final of the STOIXIMAN.GR Basket League at OAKA and the series is now tied 2-2.
The defending Champions made a lot of mistakes in the first quarter and were extremely bad at shooting resulting in trailing 18-11. The offensive outlook changed in the second quarter, the Piraeus team were shooting better and had a one point game following a “hot” performance by Green. However, new, continuous mistakes took a toll and half time ended 39-28 in favor of the hosts.
In the third quarter, no one else apart from Green was able to connect with the basket and the difference was even -20 for our team and the score 59-39 at 30’. The ‘reds’ tried to harness the margin in the last quarter and even had the difference drop to -13 at 36 (65-52). Unfortunately, Olympiacos missed in three offensive plays in a row from that point on, missing on the opportunity to drop the difference below ten points and it was over somewhere there.
Now, everything will be decided in the fifth and last final game in the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Sunday (11/06, 20:00 CET).
THE POINTS
The quarters: 18-11, 39-28, 59-39, 71-58.
Panathinaikos Superfoods (Pasqual): Singleton 14 (2), Rivers 3 (1), James 13, Fotsis, Pappas 2, Feldeine, Gist 8, Gabriel 5 (1), Bourousis 12, Calathes 14 (3).
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Green 20 (3), Birch 5, Young 7, Τoliopoulos, Papapetrou 3, Spanoulis 3, Waters, Αgravanis 2, Milutinov 2, Printezis 6, Papanikolaou 7 (1 3p, 8reb), Mantzaris 3 (1).
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: “Congratulations to Panathinaikos for the victory. We lacked concentration and calm. We lost due to our offense, we made 23 turnovers that allowed 26 easy points to the opponent. We tired at the end, somehow came a little closer, but we still lacked what it took. We are now going back to our home court for the fifth game and we need to play better. I cannot agree that there are players that have “emptied” psychologically speaking, they need to have the same energy and will to play at all times. I don’t think that the term “psychologically empty” can exist in a team that plays at the highest level. We need to be readier, more efficient, and more determined to give all we’ve got on the court. For sure, we weren’t as ready as we needed to be, the loss was less due to tactics and more on mental preparedness. We need to be better in that area for the next game.”
Next question was about the refs and Giannis Sfairopoulos was asked how come that Panathinaikos and Olympiacos are among the best teams in Europe, but the top Greek refs do not play the finals and Giannis Sfairopoulos answered that “what you describe is very accurate, but I don’t have the authority to answer for it. Ask those who are.»
KOSTAS PAPANIKOLAOU “There isn’t much we can say. We played a bad game, with a lot of mistakes, no clam and no concentration. Panathinaikos got an easy victory. We did not have the clear head and calmness to make the right offensive plays. There’s not much you can say, the series is tied, Sunday is ahead of us.. ”.