Lost at 45'
Olympiacos did not succeed in combining the historic record made by Vassilis Spanoulis with a victory against Unicaja. The reds lost in overtime 85-87 (74-74), in a game without Giorgos Printezis and Kostas Papanikolaou.
Good offensive choices (proof enough the 8/8 twos in the first quarter) the 'reds' tried to impose the rhythm (11-6 at 4') against Unicaja that was keeping the difference at low levels thanks to its good perimeter percentages (17-19).
About 9'' before the end of the first quarter, Vassilis Spanoulis passed the 1256th assists of his Euroleague career! The recipient was Vangelis Mantzaris, who made the score 17-22 for Olympiacos, at the same time when V-Span was writing history as the top passer in the history of the competition!
From that point on though, nothing was working right for our team… Defensive games, lost rebounds, many turnovers (a total of 7 in the first 20 minutes, when at the same time the Spaniards made none) and really bad choices in the offense, allowed the players of Juan Plaza to set the tempo and build a +14 margin (47-33 at 20').
The outlook of the Sfairopoulos' team changed completely in the third quarter… All those that stepped on the floor played great defense and with Vassilis Spanoulis and Vangelis Mantzaris leading the attack run a partial 23-2 that brought them from - 16 (49-33) to +5 (51-56, at 29')!
Relying on excellent perimeter percentages, Olympiacos controlled the game up until 37' (74-67). However, sluggish defensive play in the last three minutes, allowed receiving a partial 7-0 and saw Unicaja sending the game to prorogation. Nikola Milutinov was dominating the rebounds during the extra 5', while our team continued 'striking' from a distance (79-82 at 4'). However, the same was the case with the Spanish team. With two threes by Waczynski tied the game, 82-82 and 85-85, with 36'' to the end. A missed lay-up by Ioannis Papapetrou and a two Augustine made from middle range, shaped the final 87-85.
The quarters: 19-22, 47-33, 54-56, 74-74 Παρ. 87-85
Unicaja (Plaza): Okouo 4, McCallum 13(1), Diaz 3(1), Soluade 7(1), Diez 6, Milosavljevic 3, Nedovic 17(2), Waczynski 10(2), Brooks 7, Augustine 12, Souarez 5
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): ΜcLean 8, Brown 2, Papapetrou 11(2), Spanoulis 15 (2 3p., 8 as), Milutinov 10 (12 reb.), Strelnieks 10(2), Tillie 7(1), Mantzaris 11(3), Roberts 8, Wiltjer 3(1).
"It's a joy to create"
Vassilis Spanoulis got to talk about the special significance of his record… "It would be more enjoyable should we had won. We tried. From there on, it's definitely important because we are talking about passing and creating, which are very important elements to basketball. It's a team sport. It's always a joy for me to create and put my team mates in the game. Finding them the best position possible".
Next, V-Span, who left Dimitris Diamantidis in second place, talked about the importance of having Greek players at the top of said ranking. "Greek players rank at the top of said category and this reflects the spirit of Greek basketball. That's how we succeeded in excelling and distinguish our selves on National and club level. Greeks can only be happy about Greek players".
V-Span has conquered many firsts, however, he intends to winning more… "I try to play the best way possible. Helping my team achieving its goals. Sometimes we make it, sometimes we don't. That's our job. A continuous battle on the court. A continuous strive to achieve goals".
About the game against Zalgiris, he said: "We always want to win. We wanted to win tonight also. We have one more game for the Regular Season to be over. We want to play well, to win at home, to play a good basketball game and finish at the highest rank possible".
Finally, asked on whether Olympiacos can improve on its game outlook, he replied: "We definitely have room for improvement; however, we need to show that on the floor, not just talk about it. We need to be healthy before anything else. We need for the players that are injured to come back and all together give it one great boost towards these last couple of months in the season".
"We lost concentration at the end"
Giannis Sfairopoulos commented: "Tonight we missed a good chance to win, the way we were playing in the second half. We didn't have concentration at the end. We lost the ball three times in the last two and a half minutes of the regulation. Unicaja scored easy points; they came back in the game and won at prorogation. Congrats to Unicaja for winning. We have one last game to play before the play-offs begin".
"It will be difficult for anyone to surpass him"
Nikola Milutinov commented: "We made a bad start in the game and they got to lead. We tried in the second half, came back, but it wasn't enough. We continue working and focusing at the next game". Asked on the double double and his good performance, he said that… "When you lose, you don't care about how you played. I also didn't start well in the game". Finally, on the captain's record, he pointed out: "Congrats to Spanoulis. He's an excellent player. I think that he will be expanding his record and it will be very tough for any other player to surpass him".