An easy win to wish for a Happy New Year!
Olympiacos outscored Panionios at the SEF 87-65 for the 10th day of the STOIXIMAN.GR Basket League and fare welled 2017 goodbye with a win!
With good defense and Kyle Wiltjer with Giorgos Bogris as the offensive pistons, the 'reds' began with a 13-0 streak (at 3') while with Hollis Thompson striking from a distance they maintained a steady margin up to 7' (22-9, at 8'). Turnovers and bad choices allowed Panionios to chirp down the difference to 4p. (30-26 at 13'). Hollis Thompson maintained his connection to the bucket (38-30), but the guests exploited our team's defensive gaps and replied with a partial 11-3 (41-41 at 18'). Two back to back threes by Wiltjer and Thompson gave Olympiacos the lead back (47-41) going to the locker rooms after the completion of the first half with +5 (50-45).
However, the Sfairopoulos players completely restored order in the second half… They kept Panionios from scoring at all during the first five minutes of the 3rd quarter and at the same time with the Janis Strelnieks and Kostas Papanikolaou took the difference to 14p. (59-45). And they didn't stop there… Jamel McLean and Hollis Thompson took over in terms of scoring, giving to the game a prematurely procedural outlook (83-57 at 35'). And without putting too much effort but at the same time not slugging off at all, our team got the victory.
The quarters: 26-20, 50-45, 70-51, 87-65
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): ΜcLean 7 (8 reb., 2 as.), Τoliopoulos 7 (1 3p., 5 as.), Papapetrou 3 (1 3p., 3 as.), Spanoulis 2 (11 as.), Strelnieks 9 (1), Papanikolaou 10 (1 3p., 8 reb., 1 as.), Roberts 3(1 3p., 4 reb., 1 as.), Bogris 11 (4reb.), Wiltjer 11 (3 3p., 7reb.), Τhompson 24 (6 3p., 5 reb., 2 as.).
Panionios (Ζiagkos): Sakellariou 7, Dallo 11, Henderson 5 (1), ΜcNeal, Sarikopoulos 4, Diplaros 4, Kravic 13, Κarakechagias 2, Kamperidis, Cupkovic 10, Woodson 7 (1), Μaragkidis 2.
Sfairopoulos: «I wish for health»
Giannis Sfairopoulos bid 2017 goodbye with the wish for the team to be healthy in the coming year. "We are closing 2017 with a game that we played quite well, but not throughout. We began focused, got a +13 difference, but slowed down especially in defense and received 45 points till half time. In the second half we were more consistent, played a very good third and fourth quarter, when we received 20 points in total. We had good co operations and got an easy victory. Good luck to Panionios and I wish them to succeed in all their wish for. We are still after all our goals, I wish for health in 2018. The team has 16 players in its roster, but we only had 9 available tonight. Roberts was experiencing a tightening feeling in the bicep and we did not want to risk anything. We'll see what's wrong. We wish for the injured players to come back and that we continue fighting for our goals. I wish everyone all the best for 2018".
About the game against Armani Milan and whether some of the injured players are expected to come back for it, he answered: "Nothing is certain, it depends on how they respond to some tests we are going to be making. No one knows. We try to have as many people available against Armani as possible. The important thing is that we don't cry over injuries. We fight all our games, and despite coping with so many injuries, the team continues playing at a high level and continues fighting".