Looking up following the victory against Efes (vid)

With Axel Toupane playing one of his best games in the red's jersey, Olympiacos bested Anadolu Efes at the SEF 88-81, for the 12th round of the Euroleaugue.

David Blatt lined up Williams-Goss, Strelnieks, Vezenkov, Printezis and Milutinov for the jump-ball, making a good start in the game. They played good defense, moved the ball well and dominated the post, which allowed our team to lead by 10 (12-2, at 4'), while after Papanikolaou came on the floor, offering extra energy on both ends, even got to lead by 15 (23-8, at 8'). The 'reds' closed the first quarter having a margin of +13 for them (25-12), however, the Turkish team succeeded in diminishing that advantage, thanks to their shooting from the perimeter (32-30, at 15'). Axel Toupane and Nigel Williams-Goss also got to 'strike' from the three point arc (48-41), however, the Turks, who had shot 0 for 4 threes in the first quarter but 6/9 in the second one! - continued their work unfazed and closed in at 48-46, at the end of the first half.

With Larkin and Micic leading its offense, Anadolu Efes imposed the tempo and got to lead by 6 (55-61, at 26' and 59-65 at 28'). Two back2back threes by LeDay and Papanikolaou allowed Olympiacos to tie the score 65-65 (at 29'), but the guards of the guest team continued creating very serious problems for the 'red' defense (66-73, at 32'). David Blatt's players put more pressure while defending, the big players came to help when guarding Larkin significantly containing him and with Axel Toupane 'executing' Olympiacos succeeded to turn the game around (83-79, at 38') and win the game.

The quarters: 25-12, 48-46, 65-68, 88-81

Οlympiacos (Blatt): Williams-Goss 5 (1 3pm., 4 reb., 4 as., 1 st.), Τoupane 19 (2/3 2pm, 4/6 3pm, 3/4 ftm), Spanoulis 10 (1 3pm., 5 as., 1 st.), Τimma, Μilutinov 15 (9 reb., 1 as., 1 st., 1 bl.), Strelnieks 10, Vezenkov, Printezis 10 (11 reb.), Papanikolaou 9 (2 3pm., 6 reb., 1 as., 2 st.), Mantzaris, Bogris, LeDay 10 (2)

Αnadolu Efes (Αtaman): Larkin 20(2), Balbay, Motum 4, Moerman 9(3), Tuncer, Pleiss 4, Micic 24(4), Anderson 8(1), Dunston 4, Simon 8(1)

«The fans gave us energy»

David Blatt referred to the help the sixth player of out team had to offer, before anything else. "I would like to congratulate both teams. It was a great basketball game. We knew how good a team Efes is offensive wise and who big the challenge to contain them was in some areas of the game. At some points we succeeded, at some others we didn't. What we did was to give our selves the chance to win. I think and maybe you got to see it too, that when the fans came to the gym, close to halftime, mainly due to the weather and the traffic, lifted us up and gave us the energy we needed at the most crucial time of the game. I would like to thank our fans for that. I had said before the game that if we want our fans to lift us, we need to play well first. And I believe we did".

When asked to comment on the 18 offensive rebounds of the 'reds', he replied: "It's a combination of effort, balanced team work and additionally, when you make as many turnovers as those we made during the second half against Zalgiris, then you can get no offensive rebounds. When you don't shoot there's no offensive rebound. We have players that have energy, athletic ones that want to go for the offensive rebound, however, when you don't get to shoot there's no rebound. If you make turnovers when you move the ball, then you get not shots and therefore no offensive rebounds".

On whether he thinks this victory has any particular importance apart from the victory points, he said: "Somebody asked me on the eve of the day whether I thought this was a key-game. What I told him and I'm going to repeat it now, is that each game you win puts you in a better position to qualify. Right now, the important thing is tow in. Not at which spot you are going to rank at the end. When we reach the point of qualification, then we are going to think further ahead. But now, the only thing that's important is winning. The only thing that matters is that we won a very good quality team, like Efes has proven to be".

Asked to pinpoint why Efes got to close in to one bucket at the end of the first quarter, he pointed out: "When I looked at the stats at the end of the first half, I was impressed for having received 34 points in the second quarter. The reason for that had to do with biggest key of our approach to the game… We had to avoid turnovers, that would be leading Efes to the fast-break on the open court and we had to play defense at the three point arc, but we were doing the opposite. Efes scored 6 out of 9 threes in the second quarter and that's why the difference was almost eliminated".

He was then asked to reveal who the MVP of the game was for him… "We have had six players with double digit scoring and Papanikolaou with 9. But the key was Toupane. We had missed him for a long time and he was good on both ends of the floor".

Asked on whether he was satisfied from the defensive performance of his players, he replied: "In the first and fourth quarter we were aggressive with our defense and did not give away attacks to the opponent. We were focused and intense just like we should have been throughout the game. But we were so at least for part of the game. It might seem easy, but we had against us a team with a lot of quality that plays good and as a team when attacking".

Finally, asked about Nigel Williams-Goss and his progress, he said: "He's a rookie in the Euroleague and he is going to have ups and downs. He has had some very good games and he wasn't as effective in other ones. This is what you get with a rookie. He needs to continue trying, be solid with his defense and effective with his attack. He has shown he can. We want him to become more consistent".

«Spanoulis always preferred Olympiacos»!

The coach of Anadolu Efes, commented: "It was a good Euroleague game. We were affected by Beaubois' injury; he had to change our strategy in the last moment. We changed everything. We made a tragic start in the game; we could not find rhythm, however, after a few changes we found balance and returned in the game during the second quarter. We played good basketball in the second half, but we lost 18 rebounds and to me, that was the key for our loss. Also, Toupane played a superb offensive game. He was averaging 5, 6 points up to now and he got to score 19 with some incredible threes. We made some turnovers in the last couple of minutes, missed free throws and that's why Olympiacos won. Congratulations on their victory".

Asked on whether he had tried in the summer to sign Vassilis Spanoulis, he replied: "It's true. In every team I had been, I have always tried to sign Spanoulis. But every time, he preferred to stay with Olympiacos. I respect him, I like him, he's one o the best guards in Europe and now, despite being 35, 36 years old, he's the leader of Olympiacos".