A defeat in Pylea
Olympiacos did not pull through in Pylea. He lost to PAOK 78-71, for the 11th day of the STOIXIMAN.GR Basket League. This was the 3rd loss for our team in terms of the Greek League.
Bad defense, rebounds lost and poor shooting from the perimeter, combined to the very good percentages for PAOK from the 6.75 m., allowed the hosts to impose the rhythm and lead 26-14 at 8'. Giannis Sfairopoulos 'shuffled' the deck, however, none of the line ups put to the test was able to offer substantial solutions against the aggressive zone defense of PAOK, hence the 'reds' were trailing by 11 at the half time (44-33).
Although Olympiacos was better in the second half (proof enough receiving only 13 points in the 3rd quarter), not only was unable to close in, but watched PAOK widen the margin to +16 (57-41). This was due to being disappointedly off target from the three point line (1/15 at 30'), making back to back turnovers and losing the battle for the rebounds. The hosts maintained complete control of the game (70-56) up to 36', while the final attempt of the 'reds' toward a huge upset (76-68 at 39') was for nothing… The final score of 78-71 was written with three made free throws by Kostas Papanikolaou after the buzzer.
Brian Roberts and Janis Strelnieks did not play due to injuries.
The quarters: 29-18, 44-33, 57-41, 78-71
PAOK (Papatheodorou): Chrysikopoulos 6, Charalampopoulos 9(1), Katsivelis 5(1), Jackson 14, Goss 24(5), Krubally 6, Koniaris 4, Tsochlas, Μargaritis 3, Ζaras 2, Καramanolis, Jones 5(1).
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Spanoulis 12 (2 3p., 6 as), Printezis 6 (1), Papanikolaou 11 (2 3p., 7 reb.), Mantzaris 11, Bogris 4, McLean 8, Τοliopoulos, Papapetrou 6, Μilutinov 2, Wiltjer 11 (1), Τhompson.
"We lacked energy and focus"
The Olympiacos coach, Giannis Sfairopoulos, commented: "Congratulations to PAOK for the victory. They were better throughout the game. They wanted to win it more than we did; it was obvious on the floor. We had neither focus, nor energy, two very important factors in order to play a very hard game. We made a very bad start in the game and every time we tried to do something on either end of the floor, we couldn't get it done because of lack of focus and energy".
Asked on whether his team was tired from the Euroleague game almost 48 hours before, he replied: "We finished up with the game at about 1 a.m. Saturday and had to play Sunday evening. Preparation conditions were not the same for both teams. One had to prepare following a game that got to finish very late, and the other one had not played a European game last week, so they had one week to prepare. Is it the same? PAOK is a good team, they wanted the victory more and it was obvious on the floor".
On whether he thinks that this victory is going to cost Olympiacos the home court advantage after the end of the Greek League's regular season, he commented: "We may lose the home court advantage. It doesn't matter. We don't dwell on that. We are looking at one game at a time. We'll see what happens in the end. Losing the home court advantage is irrelevant, Olympiacos can win anywhere when the time comes and when all the players are available".
Finally, asked on whether his players were agitated, he replied: "When the game does not go your way, when the plays don't succeed, when the match ups are wrong, the player cannot remain calm… They are humans. In any team, when things don't go well there is agitation. The same goes for Olympiacos".