A perfect 4/4 record
Olympiacos beat Aris at the "Nick Galis Hall" 68-64 and now holds a perfect 4/4 record in the Betshop Basket League.
With pressing defense and led by Vassilis Spanoulis and Kostas Papanikolaou, they got to "build" a difference of +15 from the start (6-21 at 6'). Aris tried to react and a three by Lefteris Bohoridis dropped the margin for the first time after minute 3 to single digits (9p., 26-35 at 16'). But that was it... Olympiacos dominated rebounding (they gathered 23 against 12 of the hosts in the first half), contained Aris with solid defense, passed the ball to Zach LeDay in the post and with a partial 9-2 score closed the first half leading by +16 (28-44).
Nigel Williams-Goss furthered the distance to 18p. (28-46 at 21'), however, Lucky Jones took advantage of the sub par defensive team of our team, opened fire from the 6.75m. and closed in at 8p. (40-48, at 24'). Despite that, daivd Blatt's palyers maintained control up to 37' (55-65), relying on Giorgos Printezis and Zach Leday for the offense. Aris however did not abandon the fight... They pressed in the defense, "blocked" Olympiacos and with a partial score of 7-1 closed in at 4p. (62-66, at 38'). What followed was a ... heroic basket by Vassilis Spanoulis (62-68) and the drive by Flionis that wrote the final 64-68 at 39'. Turnovers and bad choices when attacking for both teams left the score intact in the remaining one minute...
The quarters: 12-25, 28-44, 47-56, 64-68.
Aris (Αngelou): Bohoridis 9(1), ΜcGee 4, Bell 4, Harris 2, Dalo 7, Slaftsakis, Verginis, Flionis 7 , Christidis, Jones 25 (6), Kyzer 6 (1), Αngelou.
Οlympiacos (Blatt): Vezenkov 7 (1 3p., 8 reb.), Spanoulis 11 (13p., 6 reb., 5 as.), Milutinov 4, Papanikolaou 7, Williams-Goss 8, Printezis 11 (6 reb.), Bogris, Μantzaris 4(1), Τoupane 3 (1), Τimma 3, LeDay 10 (6reb.).
«I'm lucky to be coaching Spanoulis»
Aris BC paid honors to David Blatt and Shasa Vezenkov and the coach of Olympiacos began his statements talking about said tribute by the hosts. "First of all I would like to thank the Aris team for the warm welcome offered to me and Shasa Vezenkov. It was a high class act and a very kind one. Have you ever watched "Back to the future"? Well, I'm back! I simply returned with the great team I work now for, that is Olympiacos".
In regard to the game, he stressed: "The game had two faces... In the first part, we played extremely well on both ends of the court. In the second one, we did not play well on either. Of course we should be congratulating Aris for that. We mostly controlled the game from the beginning to the end and it's good to be leaving this tough court with a win. I think that Aris is a team that despite not having had the best results up to now, is destined to becoming better as time goes by. I think that happened in the second half is that the rhythm was slower, we stopped playing with speed and intensity and Aris had the chance to play his game. I've been saying that for years... If you are playing a game that goes to 65-70 points, then it's going to be a close game. It's rare that this doesn't happen when numbers are these ones".
Asked on whether he felt strongly about steppin at the "Nick Galis Hall" court once again, he said: "For me, there has always been a historic feeling thanks to Nikos Galis of course. All the more, Aris, together with Olympiacos and Panathinaikos have done a lot for Greece to gain respect in the basketball community. I always think about Nick (Galis) when I come here, because I played against him at college. We had been opponents. Nick had been a great college player, but when he came to Europe he became one of the most acknowledged players of all times in Europe. I feel lucky although I don't have the opportunity of playing against such a huge player, I have the chance to coach a huge player like Vassilis Spanoulis. Players become a part of a place and the place becomes a part of the player. It's always special to be coming to this gym and feeling the emotion and history accompanying them both, the player and the place. I'm lucky to be experiencing this every day now..."