A walk in the park against Maccabi T.A.!
A dynamic come back to winning in Europe for Olympiacos. The team beat Maccabi Tel Aviv at the SEF 94-64 for the 18th day of the Eurolegue.
The game resembled a derby up to 6' (12-13 for Maccabi) however, when Jamel McLean took over the outlook changed on the spot. With the American center dominating the post, the 'reds' run a partial 16-3 and "built" a 12p. margin (28-16). Intense lower back pain forced him to leave the game at only the first minute of the second quarter, nevertheless, Nikola Milutinov that took over from there, assisted on many occasions by Spanoulis, increased the difference to +13 (37-24).
The Israelis tried to react and with a 7-0 streak closed in at 6p. (37-31). However, a purely Greek line up by Sfairopoulos, with Vangelis Mantzaris, Vasilis Spanoulis, Kostas Papanikolaou, Giorgos Printezis and Ioannis Papapetrou, maintained the team performance at high levels. Consistent solid defense and with V-Span and Papanikolaou leading the offense, Olympiacos closed the first half leading by 13p. (53-40).
In the second half, the 'reds' majorly improved on their perimeter percentages, which allowed them to completely control the game (66-46 at 27') and skyrocket the difference to +34 (90-56 at 36'). Good defense allowed coach Sfairopoulos to preserve the strength in view of the road game against Khimki. Olympiacos maintained control and practically walked through the game.
The quarters: 24-16, 53-40, 70-51, 94-64.
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): ΜcLean 12, Papapetrou 11 (2 3p., 4 reb.), Spanoulis 13 (2 3p., 7 as), Milutinov 12 (7 reb.), Strelnieks 3 (3as.), Printezis 6 (6 reb.), Papanikolaou 9, Mantzaris 5 (1), Roberts 5(1), Bogris 5 (7 reb.), Wiltjer 6 (2), Thompson 7(1).
Μaccabi Tel Aviv (Spahija): Τhomas 9 (2 ), Mashour 1, Roll 6, Kane 7, Tyus 10, Dibartolomeo 4, Cohen 2, Segev 1, Cole 7 (1) , Parakhouski 4, Zoosman, Jackson 13 (2).
"Print"writes history!
Olympiacos congratulated Giorgos Printezis at the end of the first quarter in a very special way, since he is now the player with the most European games in our team's history! The Club posted his photo on the matrixes and on all social media accounts with the following message:
"Giorgos PRINTEZIS writes history tonight. He has now 215 Euroleague games with Olympiacos, surpassing Milan Tomic and now tops the list of Olympiacos' players with the most European games played. Many congrats Giorgos!".
After the end of the game, the experienced forward stated: "At my age, that's what I want, to win titles with Olympiacos. Team achievements make you happy, these are the ones that stay in memory. I wish we make it this year, but it's still early to be talking about the Euroleague. The way the competition is stractured, the most important thing is for us to be in good shape during the play-offs. That's where it all counts. We saw Fener last season, when they reached peak performance during the TOP8 games and then they won the title. I wish we can be in good shape in the play offs. When you start at 15, you never know what's gonna follow. I have been left out of the rotation, even out of practice. Everything comes when it's time. One step at a time. What I care about is to remain healthy, for everyone on the team to be healthy and then everything will be possible".
«We had a very good reaction»
Our team's coach, Giannis Sfairopoulos, stated: «We have had a very good reaction after the last game. We were very aggressive with our defense, run the open court and scored enough easy points. Our defense improved in the second part a lot. We only received 24 points, while we played a very balanced game in terms of twos and threes taken. We played as a team, everyone was moving the ball looking for the best available option. It shows from the 26 assists to 9 turnovers ratio. We now play against Khimki in Moscow. We need to forget what happened and to focus on the next game, because there is no time to linger on any one game, win or lose. I wish to thank the fans for coming to support the team. It's very important to realized that our home games are very crucial and we need the fans to help the players with their battles».
On what was talked about following the heavy loss in Vitoria, he explained that… "When you lose by such a margin, your ego is under attack. You think that the players were happy, that it did not affect them? Everyone was very upset. That hurt ego promoted this reaction. We need to continue this way. What lies ahead is very important".
The fans cheered for Giorgos Bogris and he commented: "What happened is very important to me. I have tried very hard; I have completed a very important cycle in my career. I have really put too much work in all these years, I know where I am and I want to work hard every day, so that I can exploit on every minute I get on the floor. I'm proud to be here, I'm proud to be a member of Olympiacos".