A heavy loss at the SEF
Olympiacos failed at returning to winning. The 'reds' lost at home to CSKA 81-97, for the Euroleague 24th round.
The 'reds' found a cure in the first part of the game for the scoring problem they were facing last month; however, defensive lapses did not allow them to impose the tempo. Thanks to good perimeter percentages, CSKA got to lead 17-14 at 6, however, with Zack LeDay and Vassilis Spanoulis leading the offense, our team closed the first quarter leading 23-21. Nando De Colo got the baton in offense from Sergio Rodriguez and helped the Russian team come ahead 35-31. Sasha Vezenkov offered valuable solutions to our team upon coming on the floor, that got to lead by 2 (50-48) after a three by Vangelis Mantzaris, but it was Higgins who had the final say, scoring a three at the buzzer and making the score of the first half 50-51.
Before even the 22nd minute was completed, Vassilis Spanoulis had made his fourth foul, while one minute later Weber was also called his fourth one (at the time the score being 54-58 for the Russians). Despite having the two guards benched, Olympiacos reacted, passed the ball low to LeDay and Milutinov and running a partial 6-0 went ahead by 2 (60-58). But CSKA did the same. The Army's team 'fed' Hines, got to lead by +12 (66-78, at 32') and somewhere around then everything was over… The 'reds' did not have any more strength, they lost the path to scoring, when at the same time the guests were scoring in any way imaginable (70-89 at 36'), winning the game with characteristic ease.
The quarters: 23-21, 50-51, 64-72, 81-97
Οlympiacos (Blatt): Weber 6, Williams-Goss 2, Τoupane 4, Spanoulis 14 (7 assists), Τimma 3 (1), Μilutinov 5, Vezenkov 5, Printezis 12 (1), Papanikolaou 4, Μantzaris 3 (1), Bogris 2, LeDay 21 (9 rebounds)
CSKA (Ιtoudis): De Colo 16 (2), Bolomboy 4, Peters, Antonov, Rodriguez 15 (3), Vorontsevich 3(1), Clyburn 14 (1), Higgins 18 (2), Hackett, Kurbanov 2, Hines 15, Hunter 10.
"We need to step out of this funk"
Olympiacos' coach, David Blatt, stated: "Congratulations to CSKA, they are a high level team and they played a very high level game. We made a good effort in the first half, but lacked the same consistency in the second one and that cost us. The good thing is we showed some signs of offensive improvement. We have been quite consistent defense wise this season, but tonight we were not able to manage the dynamic CSKA carries in the offense. It's a tough moment, we need to make introspection as a team and find the way that will lead us out of this funk. Our goal is to make the playoffs. I know what we have to do to make it, but if we don't perform consistently, this is also going to be difficult. We are looking ahead".
Asked on whether Nigel Williams-Goss finds it hard to adjust to the level of the Euroleague, he replied: "It's easy to talk about someone when things don't go well for him. It's a fair question. He has played some good games this season, but he's in a difficult period and we need to help him overcome it. At the same time though, up until tonight, one of the best players in the history of Olympiacos, Giorgos Printezis, was also in downfall. Not a lesser one than that of Williams-Goss, so the same question could have been made about him. It was very good to see Giorgos make a come back tonight. I was glad about it. If we take a look at the last five games, we'll see Milutinov, who had been the best center in Europe during the first half of the season, also struggling. However, I believe that these things can and will change in our favor".
Talking about the upcoming schedule, he said: "I've been with the Euroleague for quite some time and I have never seen a tougher succession of games than the one we have had this season. Some times things are like that, this is not an excuse. Now the schedule is becoming a little more favorable, but we need to take advantage of that. What will make me happy is not the schedule, but rather a win".
On whether he thinks it's difficult to play against CSKA with such a limited rotation, he said: "CSKA is a high level team, they played with their full roster and realistically it's very tough to win them under any circumstance. But we need to be playing better and that's my responsibility".
On his part, the coach of the Russian team, Dimitris Itoudis, stated: "I would like to congratulate my players for the victory and the performance. It was obvious that we dominated the game. We changed our approach to defense in the second half. We kept Olympiacos at low scoring levels in the third and fourth quarter. That gave us the boost to turn the game. Of course, it is not only defense that counts, but offense as well. We made only four turnovers, but two of them had been three seconds' violations and one offensive foul. When you have so few turnovers against an aggressive team that makes so many switches when defending, it is proof enough of how effective we had been with our defense. We weren't selfish with our offense, and we made a lot of shots at the end of the clock because we were looking for the best available option. We got a great victory against a great opponent in a tough court. You can go through a bad momentum in the Euroleague, be out of shape. We had gone through that as well; the important thing is to find rhythm when it counts. I don't have inside knowledge about the two Greek teams, but I think they are going to fight hard to make the playoffs".