Lost to details
Olympiacos lost 65-70 to Besiktas for the "TUBAD" tournament premiere that takes place in Istanbul and will be playing on Saturday (30/9) against the losing team of the Galatasaray - Gaziantep match up.
The Turkish team made a strong start (6-0) and continued leading till the end of the first quarter (12-17). Playing good defense and with a 7-0 partial, Olympiacos turned the game (19-17), while got to lead by 5 at 18' (29-24). Nevertheless, thanks to their good perimeter shooting, the Turks were those to go to the locker rooms leading by 1 (31-32).
With Roberts leading the game in the offense, our team got a +7 lead (45-38) at 25', however, Besiktas quickly came back and turned the game into a derby. About a minute before the end, the Sfairopoulos' players were leading by 4, however, they got to pay for turnovers under no pressure and allowed the Turkish team ran a 9-0 streak and win.
Vasilis Spanoulis and Kostas Papanikolaou did not travel to Istanbul due to injuries.
The quarters: 12-17, 31-32, 48-47, 65-70.
ΟLYMPIACOS (Sfairopoulos): McLean 4(4 reb.), Τoliopoulos 3 (1 3p.), Papapetrou 8(2 3p., 5 reb.), Αgravanis 8(1 3p., 2 reb.), Μilutinov 12(5 reb.), Τillie 2 (1 reb.), Printezis 6 (3 reb), Μantzaris, Αrsenopoulos, Roberts 14(2 3p., 1 reb.), Bogris, Τhompson 8 (2 3p., 4 reb).
BESIKTAS (Sarica): Boatright 9(3 ), Al, Guler 3, Clark 7(1), Geyik, Veyseloglu 8(1), Mutaf, Strawberry 17(1), Lima 6, Dibbler 8(2), Weems 2, Sanli 10.
THE QUOTES
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: "I would first like to thank the organizer for inviting us to this tournament. It's a very important tournament for us. We wanted to be playing tough games and use them to improve our game and be ready for the beginning of the season" the Olympiacos coach said at first.
He then talked about the game against Besiktas, saying that "in regard to the game, we did not approach it the right way, we weren't ready to play a tough game, we lacked focus, we weren't tough and that was obvious during the whole game since we never found rhythm in either end of the floor. Especially in the offense, we were very slow, we bad decisions and without a clear image of how we wanted to play, how to pass the ball correctly and how to play as a team. We need to improve and we first of all need to improve our mentality, our game comes next. Time is flying by and we are playing the first official game of the season in a few days".
As for the seminar that is going to be taking place in the tournament's background, Giannis Sfairopoulos said that "it's very important to be taking part in this event that addressed both coaches and players and it's an honor for me to be speaking in the presence of Turkish coaches, I'm happy to have been invited to talk and I'm looking forward to exchanging ideas with my Turkish colleagues".
BESIKTAS (Sarica): Boatright 9(3 ), Al, Guler 3, Clark 7(1), Geyik, Veyseloglu 8(1), Mutaf, Strawberry 17(1), Lima 6, Dibbler 8(2), Weems 2, Sanli 10.
THE QUOTES
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: "I would first like to thank the organizer for inviting us to this tournament. It's a very important tournament for us. We wanted to be playing tough games and use them to improve our game and be ready for the beginning of the season" the Olympiacos coach said at first.
He then talked about the game against Besiktas, saying that "in regard to the game, we did not approach it the right way, we weren't ready to play a tough game, we lacked focus, we weren't tough and that was obvious during the whole game since we never found rhythm in either end of the floor. Especially in the offense, we were very slow, we bad decisions and without a clear image of how we wanted to play, how to pass the ball correctly and how to play as a team. We need to improve and we first of all need to improve our mentality, our game comes next. Time is flying by and we are playing the first official game of the season in a few days".
As for the seminar that is going to be taking place in the tournament's background, Giannis Sfairopoulos said that "it's very important to be taking part in this event that addressed both coaches and players and it's an honor for me to be speaking in the presence of Turkish coaches, I'm happy to have been invited to talk and I'm looking forward to exchanging ideas with my Turkish colleagues".
BRIAN ROBERTS: «The reality of the matter is we did not deserve to win the way we were playing. We cannot just show up and expect to win. We need to be playing better from the start. We could be looking at the last minute, but the reality is we lost the game during the previous 39. We cannot be playing like that and expect to win».