"Bent" Holargos in the overtime
It took Olympiacos the extra five minutes of the overtime to bent the solid resistance of Holargos and hence win on the road 73-68 (regulation 61-61), for the 14th day of the Betshop Basket League.
Our team's defense was good in the first part, however, everyone except Nikola Milutinov was absent when the team was attacking. With the Serbian center leading, Olympiacos got to lead 9-3 at 7', however, the hosts took advantage of the bad shooting percentages of the 'reds' (especially from the perimeter) and despite sparingly scoring, got ahead in the score 19-15 (at 14'). Olympiacos was pathetic behind the three point line (0/16 in the first half), however, thanks to its good defensive game stopped Holargos from going to the locker rooms with anything more than a 3 point lead (29-26).
With a 4-0 run, Olympiacos went ahead 30-29 at the beginning of the third quarter, however, the 'reds' were never able to find rhythm. On the contrary, the hosts took advantage of their dominion of the rebounding, got to control to the game and built a +10 margin (47-37 at 29'). With 1 free throw by Spanoulis, a three by Papanikolaou (who was the one to score the first three for Olympiacos at 27', after 16 failed attempts) and a lay up by Vezenkov, our team had a four point game in less than two minutes (47-43 at 31').
Vassilis Spanoulis closed in on 50-48 with a three, but the hosts were quick to answer back from the perimeter remaining at a leading position until 38' (59-55). It was the point when Janis Strelnieks took over. The Latvian guard was the protagonist of a 6-0 Olympiacos run that sent our team to +2 (59-61) with 10.9'' before the end, however, Love sent the game to overtime with a lay up only a second before the final buzzer.
David Blatt's players made things much simpler during the overtime… The put pressure when defending, passed the ball in the post, where Nikola Milutinov could not be matched - and won the game.
The quarters: 9-11, 29-26, 47-41, 61-61 Overtime: 68-73
Holargos (Lykogiannis): Fitzpatrick 9 (3), Jankovic 12, Okereafor, Agbelese 6 (10 reb), Hawkins 15 (1 3p, 7 reb), Kottas 1, Spyridonidis, Talton 8 (7 reb), Skoulidas 3 (1), Kalaitzakis, Rallatos, Love 14.
Οlympiacos (Blatt): Vezenkov 15, Milutinov 21 (17 reb, 2 bl), Μantzaris, Strelnieks 11 (8 as), Τimma 2, Printezis 5, Spanoulis 6 (1 3p, 6 as), Bogris, Papanikolaou 10 (2), Τoupane 3 (1), LeDay.
"I don't have any complaints about my players"
David Blatt stated: "It's highly unusual to win a game with 12% in threes, having missed a total of 29. It's really unusual. All the more, when you have 11 free throws missed. However, I would like to say that Holargos played very good basketball and they deserve all the credit. The deserve it. When you have one day to prepare for the game, without a morning practice, in a tough home court, it can be hard. And unfortunately it became hard for us. But I can't complain about anyone. I'm proud of my team and the character they have shown".
When a reporter mentioned that during warm up the 'reds' were making all their shots but were tragically off target during the game and asked him to explain it, he said kidding: "When they make the shots during warm up it's really bad. The ball in the Greek League is different to the one in the Euroleague. Isn't it? Then this is a really bad excuse". And went on to say: "I think that we took good shots and simply did not make them. I don't know why. If we had taken bad shots, that would explain the 12%, but they were really good choices, open shots. Maybe what we should have done would be to not shoot so many shots but attack the rim".
Abou the 38 minutes played by Nikola Milutinov, he commented: "His minutes were more due to the overtime. It's not out of context, although we would definitely wanted him to play less. He had been out for a week. He missed games, did not play against Baskonia, Real Madrid and Prometheus. He had three games off! I wish I had three games off; I would be probably coaching better! All the more, Nikola is 24 years old. When I was 24, I could be playing three games a day… Of course I wasn't as good a player as Nikola is!"
About Janis Strelnieks, who was the key to the victory, he said: "He's a very important player for us. When we lost three games in a row in the Euroleague, Strelnieks was off due to injury. We needed him to come forward, because we wanted to have Papanikolaou and Axel on the floor at the end of the game for the defense. He really made some big plays for us".
Asked if he thinks that it's good Olympiacos is facing Fenerbahce after a tough game, he replied: "I always think that the best thing is to go to a game following a good performance. Winning the game means that you also played well? I don't know. On the other hand, I don't feel we were that bad. As I said before, the shots were open, we made 8 turnovers in 45 minutes, we went to the free throw line many times… Yes, it was good we played a competitive game. That's the life of a coach. It's stressful. If you ask me if I was under pressure today, the answer is yes. But that's how it is. However, the fans enjoyed this. And I repeat, the coach and the players of Holargos deserve congrats on a job very well done. I'll tell what my good friend Charles Burton, who had won the Greek Cup with Aris used to tell me: "Never underestimate a victory". So that's how I look at it…
Finally, when asked whether Milutinov is a better scorer, or rebounder, or passer, he replied: "Sincerely, his best asset is that he's a very good team mate. His team mates love him. Because he plays well, he's their friend; he's a good player for the locker rooms who cares about them. What you said, are all basketball facts, but character precedes quality. Milutinov is of very good character".