Win against Rethymno, debut for Wiltjer
Olympiacos did what he had to do and won against Rethymno 90-72 in the empty SEF (League penalty) for the 5th day of the STOIXIMAN.GR Basket League. Kyle Wiltjer debuted in the 'red' shirt.
Zone defense by the Cretans created an offensive problem for Olympiacos and did allow him to control the game. Despite that, our team closed the first quarter leading 21-19, while at the beginning of the second quarter got a 6 point margin (28-22) relying on the offensive prowess of Dimitris Agravanis. Nevertheless, Rethymno did not give up… They continued shooting with impressive accuracy from the three point line (7/14 in the first half) and succeeded in taking a 4 point lead (35-39 at 19'). Finally, a 4-0 streak by the hands of Strelnieks and Milutinov led the 'reds' to tie the game 39-39.
In the 3rd quarter, the 'reds', although finding solutions in the attack (mainly with Brian Roberts), were not able to cover for the gaps in their defense. This was taken advantage of by the Nikos Vetoulas' players, who kept close to score (66-62 at 29'). But it was somewhere there that the countdown for the guests began… With a lot of pressure in the defense and a partial 15-3 score, the Sfairopoulos' players took the margin to +16 (81-65 at 34') and practically sealed victory.
The quarters: 21-19, 39-39, 69-65, 90-72
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Milutinov 9(4 reb.), Strelnieks 12(1), Printezis 6(6 reb.), Papanikolaou 7(6reb., 2 as.), Roberts 18(3 3p., 4 reb., 6 as.), McLean 7, Τoliopoulos 6, Papapetrou 2, Αgravanis 7(1), Bogris, Thompson 16(3 3p., 2 as.), Wiltjer.
Rethymno (Vetoulas): Daniels 12(1), Κottas 1, Moody 5(1), Armstead 13(3), Goodwin 11(2), Medlock 4, Christodoulou 7, Panaretakis, Theodoridis, Giannopoulos 5(1), Robertson 14(2)
«We'll fix everything with work and patience»
Patience and faith in the effort Olympiacos has been making during recent years were asked by our team's coach, Giannis Sfairopoulos: "Tonight we had to manage the team's psychological state, that hadn't been good following the last Euroleague game. I believe that we did that in the second half. We weren't focused in the first half due to the loss to Panathinaikos. It certainly took a toll on all of us. However, just as I have said before, work and patience are going to fix everything. It's an effort that has begun many years now. It's an effort we believe in and has been fruitful in past seasons. We need to be patient with this team because it's a new team with many foreigners, many injuries and needs to manage many different parameters, like the fact that many international players hadn't had any rest. All of these bring ups and downs for any team that deals with situations similar to ours. I think that we played well in the second half. Our productivity was better in than in previous games, however, our defense should have been a little better. We received 72 points. They are many to me. Of course we got to play this game in less than 48 hours and our energy wasn't at peak point. It's only logical. When you play such a demanding game Friday night and you have to play the next one Sunday evening… Despite that, we had energy, we had a clear head, made good plays in the offense, there was plurality in scoring and got a big difference at the end that gave us a comfortable victory. We are focusing on our next game. Next week we play three games. We want to continue working, focus and play the game in Turkey".
When asked to comment on the improved offensive outlook of the 'reds' he said: "The players are always willing to perform. It's just that tonight they were better in offense. Of course we respect Rethymno, but you cannot compare them to a Euroleague team. This is the first step and we can build on it. We did not forget how basketball is played all of a sudden; we did not suddenly forget how to score… I think that all the players know what they need to do. As you know, defense gets you titles. I'm happy when defense is working properly. But we certainly needed to improve our offense and you saw that happening tonight a great deal".
On the performance of Brian Roberts, he commented: "When we got Roberts, we knew we had signed a quality player. He's a player that has shown his quality both in practices and during the friendly games. Then he got injured twice and this set him back. He's definitely out of rhythm and he needed a good game to help boost his psychology. I think that tonight's game is going to help him continue as he should from now on".