Huge victory in Istanbul!

Olympiacos returned to winning in Europe too and in a most impressive fashion that is! He beat the European Champion Fenerbahce in Istanbul 90-83 (regulation 75-75).  

The 'reds' began well and with Giorgos Printezis and Janis Strelnieks leading the offense, got to lead 18-14 at 9'. The hosts replied with a 10-0 streak (24-18) and controlled the tempo of the game until 14' (31-23). At that point, Sfairopoulos' players started pressing in the defense, won battles under the rim and with a 7-0 streak made a one point game (31-30). However, Fenerbahce took advantage of the bad choices our team made in the offense, "struck" by means of Datome and Nunnally and closed the first half leading by 10 (40-30).

The lead for the Turkish team increased to 13 p. in the second half (47-34 at 22'), nevertheless, Olympiacos succeeded in reacting. With pressing defense and Brian Roberts on fire from the three point line, our team turned the game around and with a partial 23-6 closed the third quarter leading 57-53. It did not stop there… They attacked the post with McLean - Printezis and Pananikolaou and Strelnieks assisting from the perimeter and increased the margin to +11 (60-71) at 36'. Fenerbahce was able to exploit on some of our team's mistakes and was also very good at shooting from behind the 6.75 m. arc as well as from the free throw line so as to cover for the margin and send the game to overtime.

Despite this development, the Sfairopoulos' team kept calm. Printezis made the difference in the offense, Papanikolaou being present on every inch of the floor and Strelnieks scoring a crucial three, Olympiacos got to absolutely dominate the extra five minutes and won with relative ease (90-83).

The quarters: 17-18, 40-30, 53-57, 75-75. Παρ: 83-90

Fenerbahce (Οbradovic): Thompson 2, Melli 11(1), Wanamaker 15(2), Sloukas 13(1), Nunnally 22(3), Guduric 4, Vesely 8, Datome 8(1).

Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos):  ΜcLean 9, Papapetrou, Αgravanis, Μilutinov 10(5reb.), Strelnieks 16(4), Printezis 18 (7reb., 3 as.), Papanikolaou 7(5reb., 6 as., 4 st.), Mantzaris, Roberts 21(3 3p., 4reb., 2 as.), Wiltjer, Thompson 9(4reb.).

"We are shell shocked"

Giannis Sfairopoulos first talked about the tragedy that has befallen Attica in the last 24 hours: "Our thoughts are with the families of the people that have lost their lives. We are shell shocked as well".

On the victory in Istanbul, he said: "Congratulations to my players, not only for the victory, but for many other reasons. First of all because they won against Fenerbahce on the opponent's home court, but also for reacting following the loss to Panathinaikos at the SEF. It's always difficult to play here, against a great team with a great coach".

Analyzing the game, he stressed: "The score was 31-30 about two minutes before the end of the first half and Fener is such a good team that it only took them two minutes to impose the rhythm. In the second half, we talked with the players and told them that they needed to improve their defense and be more aggressive in offense when ready to execute. It was really important that the 3rd quarter began the way it did and that the players responded to what we asked them to. We began playing better in defense and found rhythm in the offense and made some important perimeter shots. We got a small lead in the fourth quarter that could have given us the victory, however, 2-3 bad choices allowed the opponent to come back to the game. And despite having the last ball, the game went to overtime. It was also important that we kept believing in the victory during the overtime, despite Fener having tied the game earlier. We continued playing equally well on both ends of the floor. We passed the ball and made better shooting choices. I think we deserved to win, because after the first half we showed a different face on the floor. It's not that we were bad in the first half, however, we were much better from that point on".

The 'reds' coach was quick to … land his players to the ground and revealed what he told them in the locker rooms: "I told my players that we need to continue working for the Marathon that the Euroleague is. We need to focus at one game at a time and sum up at the end. We need to forget we won and focus immediately on Red Star".

"The shirt is a very big thing"

Brian Roberts added another impressive performance to his resume, but he did not claim the biggest part of the glory… "We knew it was going to be a tough game. It was a chance to show character. It was a great chance to show what we can do. We did not do that well in the first half, however, we knew we could win in the second half and during overtime. So we got on the floor and fought. It's all a matter of confidence. It wasn't only for my shots, it was a team effort. Many guys scored important points. However, it was indeed a good night for me, I made some shots from the perimeter and helped bring in a team win".

And ended saying: "Sporting 'ego' plays a role. We are good players and we needed to get out on the floor believing in ourselves… With confidence. And we proved that tonight. Who we are and wearing the Olympiacos shirt is a very important thing".

"I always give 100%, even when I'm not good"

Soul was the key according to Giorgos Printezis: "We played with our instinct and we played good basketball at times. Should we had lost, we would have at lead fought, but we got to react. It seems when Fener got back into the game that we would be losing. But we showed even more resolve during overtime in a tough court and got a huge victory".

Asked on whether the team's 'ego' was bruised by the loss at the SEF, he answered: "No need to lie, we were all upset and looking for a game to react. We knew that we upset our fans and we were upset ourselves. We played some bad games in the last 10 days. It's only logical. I don't want to be making excuses, but it's a reality. No team can finish sprinting. Unfortunately, we lost a game at home against our great rival in Greece but we managed to react. We practically evened out that home loss tonight".
On what needs to be done next, our team's forward said" "It's a long season. We all need to get better. We all need to be looking at our mistakes either winning or losing. I like looking at the mirror and looking to find what went wrong. We all play together… We win as a team and we lose as a team. No one has a bigger part of the blame to anyone else. It was a good reaction, but the season is very long. We cannot be talking big. Twenty days ago we were thought to be the team in the best shape, everyone was praising us and in eight days everyone seems disillusioned. But that's how things are. It all comes around. The thing is to work, to never stop, to be resilient and give your best".  

On whether he feels tired: "I always feel I give 100%. Even when I'm not good, or I'm missing lay ups under no pressure or I can't score at all, I always leave the gym with a clear conscience. That I have given 100% even if my 100% on that particular night was not enough. You can never be very good in every single game. That's how Euroleague is and that's how rhythm is. You need to play defense, offense, consistency in time. The season is very long. The important thing is give your best, even if things don't go the way you want them to".