Defeated in the third final
Olympiacos lost in OAKA to Panathinaikos 58-73 and now absolutely needs the victory in the Thursday game (14/06, 18.00 CET) at the SEF, to tie the series at 2 all and fight for the title in the 5th game.
Up to the 6th minute - when our team was leading 9-8 with a three by Vassilis Spanoulis - the game was balanced. However, a blank period followed for the offense of the 'reds', during which Panathinaikos succeeded thanks to its good perimeter shooting to gain a difference of +9 (18-9, at 9'). Wiltjer and Spanoulis paid the 'greens' back and with two back to back threes closed in to 18-15, while with Jamel McLean leading, they succeeded to tying the game (20-20, at 11'). The hosts were not idle to take advantage of the poor choices our team made when attacking plus its bad percentages and with a three by Nick Calathes at the buzzer closed the first half leading 38-28.
In the beginning of the 3rd quarter, Panathinaikos was at +12 (40-28) and controlled the tempo despite not shooting well from the free throw line. Giannis Sfairopoulos attempted at shuffling the decks and put Bobby Brown on the floor (46-39, at 28'), but our team continued facing a serious offensive problem. That's exactly what Panathinaikos took advantage of , who continued 'firing' from the three point line and skyrocketed the difference to +19 (63-44, at 34'). Our players tried to close in and run a partial 11-1, hence making a 9 point game (64-55, at 37'). Nevertheless, it was too late…
The quarters: 19-15, 38-28, 34-42, 78-53
Panathinaikos (Pasqual): Singleton 9 (1), Rivers 15 (2), Gist 5, Lojeski 5 (1), Calathes 13 (2), James 14 (2), Pappas, Vougioukas, Lekavicius 5 (1), Auguste, Αntentokoumpo 7.
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Spanoulis 14 (4), Μilutinov 8 (10 reb), Printezis 12 (6 reb.), Papanikolaou 5 (1), Μantzaris, McLean 9, Brown 3, Papapetrou, Strelnieks, Roberts 2, Wiltjer 5 (1).
"Panathinaikos was better"
The Olympiacos coach, Giannis Sfairopoulos, commented: "Before I start talking about the game, I would like to express my warmest condolences, as well those of Olympiacos to the Giannakopoulos' family and Panathinaikos, on the loss of Pavlos Giannakopoulos.
Panathinaikos played better than we did. We have had some good moments but of course they weren't enough to keep us in the game for a long time. Panathinaikos had made a very enthusiastic start. We gradually balanced that, but some missed lay ups in the second quarter together with a lot of easy baskets, weakened our defense and we received many easy points. Panathinaikos was better in the beginning of the third and fourth quarter and gained a wide difference. At the end, we tried to do something during the last 5-6 minutes, but it wasn't enough. The stats speak for themselves. We lost all four quarters. The series is now 2-1. Panathinaikos has the upper hand now. We are going back to the SEF to try and win and go to a fifth game".
Asked if he's thinking about shrinking the rotation in the next game, he replied: "I value and give it a try with all my players. Whoever has a better day will be playing more. Players are people and not machines to always play well. The coach has faith in all his players. I expect from all the players to be more prepared mentally wise in the next game".
The 'reds' forward, Giorgos Printezis, pointed out: "Condolences go to the Giannakopoulos' family and to Panathinaikos. It's a difficult moment in Greek sports. In regard to the game, we succeeded in containing Panathinaikos with our defense. They've been scoring less in regard to their averages. However, we haven't been who we would have wanted offensive wise, we made a lot of bad call. We have to give all we have at the SEF to tie the series, there are no excuses. Home court, if you have the required focus, can give you the win. We don't want the series to end carbon copy of the last one. We need to put a further stop to Panathinaikos running the open floor, their offensive rebounding and own them for a change. We need to keep a clear head and take advantage of the mismatches".