Hurt by Voronov and offensive rebounding
Olympiacos failed to beat Zenit in St. Petersburg (91-87). The Piraeus team lost mainly due to the damage Plaza's team was able to inflict with offensive rebounding and Voronov.
Now, after 21 games, the 'reds' have a win-loss record of 8-13 and focus on their next game against Baskonia at the SEFnext Thursday (30/01). The top scorer for the Piraeus team was VassilisSpanoulis with 31.
The game began with Olympiacos being … hot on the offense. The 'reds' were having Spanoulis, Vezenkov and Milutinov on a very good night and hence succeeded in taking a 16-23 lead with Kostas Papanikolaou passing back to back assists. Thus the starters of the Bartzokas' team led it to a seven point lead and subsequently closed the first quarter 24-27.
The game was different in the second quarter though. The many offensive rebounds by Zenit caused big troubles for Olympiacos and Plaza's team with a partial 14-5 turned the situation around making the score 38-32, however, Spanoulis and Printezis ran a quick 0-5 to make the score 38-37 and half time closing at 45-43 for the hosts.
Just like in the beginning of the second quarter, the same thing happened in the beginning of the second half, with Olympiacos remaining without score for three minutes. Which the St. Petersburg team took total advantage of and with a 6-0 partial got to lead 51-43 for the +8 which was the largest difference for the Russian team up to that point. Zenit, with Thomas and Voronov causing a lot of problems for the 'reds', turned the 51-48 score to 57-48 for the +9 of the hosts at 26'. Zenit succeeded in getting a double digit margin for the first time (64-53), but Papanikolaou had the answer with the third quarter ending 66-58 for the Plaza team.
At the exact moment the team seemed to be having a pulse (69-62) with Printezis and Rochestie, the back to back turnovers made a score of 73-62 for Zenit. Voronov and offensive rebounding were two problems with no solution for the Piraeus team. Spanoulis and company reacted with a 0-7 streak to make the score 73-69 at 36'.
Ponkrashov and Printezis 'struck' for their respective teams to make the score 76-72 before the top player in the history of the Euroleague made a two point game for Olympiacos(76-74) scoring his 23rd point. However, two turnovers by the 'reds' and a 6-0 by Zenit (a bucket and one by Renfroeand a three by Hollins) made the score 82-74 at 38' and practically decided the result.
The quarters: 24-27, 45-43, 66-58, 91-87
Ζenit St. Petersburg (Plaza): Iverson 6 (12reb), Albicy 6 (8as), Ponkrashov 3 (1), Hollins 8 (2), Τhomas 10, Renfore8 (6as), Pushkov, Trushkin 5 (1), Voronov 21 (2), Zubkov 7 (1), Αbromaitis 2, Αyon 15.
Οlympiacos (Bartzokas): Rochestie (4as), Baldwin, Paul, Κoniaris, Spanoulis 31 (5, 7as), Milutinov 9 (5reb), Vezenkov 7 (1), Printezis 20 (23p, 7reb), Papanikolaou 20 (43p, 4reb, 3as), Rubit.
GIORGOSBARTZOKAS
GiorgosBartzokas talked about the many turnovers and lost rebounds for his team stating that "in such a game, against a team like Zenit, we should be playing better in offense, but also in defense. We needed more players to contribute on both ends of the floor and I think that our greatest problem was in the third quarter when we lost all challenged balls that were at 50%, rebounds and many possessions that decided the game. Zenit found confidence by the second chances we allowed them. And the second factor is that in such a close game, we made too many turnovers. Many times, when we were coming back, it's not that we weren't scoring enough, but we were rather making turnovers allowing scoring from the fast break fro the opponent. So, to win on the road, you have to stick to your plan for 40 minutes and have many players contributing in the game and this did not happen for us tonight".
Asked what the game plan before the game had been, the Greek coach replied that "we hadn't wanted to allow second chances to Zenit, they top the Euroleague with an average of 13 offensive rebounds. And the second thing was not to make turnovers allowing easy scoring in the transition. We had to protect the ball. So whenever we were hasty or were turning the ball over, we allowed the opportunity to score in the transition and the fast break".