Won against Kolossos and now 'eyes' CSKA

Olympiacos bested Kolossos, much easier than the final 83-72 shows, for the 19th day of the STOIXIMAN.GR Basket League.

Our team's coach, Giannis Sfairopoulos was missing Kostas Papanikolaou (injury) and Vangelis Mantzaris (flu). Kim Tillie, that was also facing an injury problem after Saturday practice (17/03), was included in the roster, but did not get to play.
Good defense and offensive pluralism, allowed the 'reds' (despite the 7 turnovers they made in the first quarter), to set the tempo and 'build' a +12 margin (16-4, at 5' and 20-8 at 9'). They got to shoot well from the perimeter afterwards, which allowed them to widen the margin (+16, 37-21, at 17') and go to the locker rooms after the end of the first half leading by 15p (42-27).

With solidly good defensive game and Ioannis Papapetrou leading the offense, Olympiacos continued stepping on the gas, widening the distance (+31, 68-37, at 29'). From that point on the game was of a procedural character, which allowed Sfairopoulos to rest some of his key players in view of the game against CSKA and give minutes to others that usually don't get them.
 
The quarters: 20-10, 42-27, 68-41, 83-72.

"I'm a little disappointed in the young players"

Olympiacos' coach, Giannis Sfairopoulos, pointed out: "We played a good game tonight. We began with high concentration and only received ten points in the first quarter. We had good co-operations in the offense. We built a good difference. The same in the 3rd quarter also. In general, the game went our way, except for the last 7-8 minutes when the tempo was very slow and the difference got greatly diminished. I had the chance to give minutes to our young players at the time, however, they did not live up to the challenge, and they should be learning from this. If they want to be playing for Olympiacos, they need to be focused and ready to do what they need to be doing and have the right attitude. We received a lot of points at that time and our offense was sluggish. We did not have clear thinking at the end and I sincerely am a little disappointed by our young players' performance, because I was expecting much more. We won another Greek League game and we are now focusing on Europe. We have one more week with two back to back games, beginning with the ranking leader, CSKA. We start preparing tomorrow. However, we had the chance to rest some players tonight and rest Tillie who suffered a small injury. As well as some more players, so that they are ready for the next game. We have four Euroleague games to play. All four are important and critical. We need to remain focused, because, as I said following the game against Barcelona, nothing is decided yet, not even home court advantage".