Beat both Villeurbanne and bad luck!
Shrinking in numbers, but becoming a giant competition wise! Following the against all odds victory over CSKA, Olympiacos played another great game (despite missing more key players) and won against Villeurbanne 77-68.
After Vassilis Spanoulis, Vassilis Charalampopoulos and Taylor Rochestie who were at the ‘pits’ due to injuries, Brandon Paul and Augustine Rubit did not play also due to a bout of flu, while during the game, the ‘reds’ got to lose Nikola Milutinov! Noteworthy: The new signings, Shaquielle McKissic and Dwight Buyscks watched the game from the bench, since they still are not eligible to play.
The French got to lead with 6p. (8-14, at 4’), however, the ‘reds’ did not allow them to take the control of the game in their hands. They put pressure in defense, “struck” in the post with Nikola Milutinov and got ahead 19-18 (at 9’). Almost 20’’ before the end of the first quarter, Giorgos Bartzokas put the youngest players on his roster on the floor, Alexandros Nikolaidis and Aleksej Pokusevski. The second originally played for 1 minute and 49 seconds, however, Nikolaidis made the whole second quarter, contributing significantly into Olympiacos setting the tempo (36-29 at 16’).
Bad luck struck once again 3:40’’ before the end of the second quarter, when Nikola Milutinov sprained his ankle and was ‘knocked out’ of the game. Despite the shock of this new injury, Olympiacos, with Octavius Ellis leading, maintained the driver’s position and closed the first quarter at +10 (43-33).
Relying on their defense, as well as on good perimeter percentages, the ‘reds’ succeeded in increasing the difference even further (+16, 61-45 at 29’). The French, however, taking advantage of the fatigue the players of Giorgos Bartzokas were displaying, closed in at 11p. running a 5-0 (61-50 at 30’).
Fatigue became even more obvious for Olympiacos in the last quarter, the French team “punished” the zone defense our team was playing with shots from the perimeter (70-61 at 37’), however, the return of Ellis in the game turned the scales for Olympiacos permanently (77-61 at 39’).
The quarters: 20-21, 43-33, 61-50, 77-68.
Οlympiacos (Bartzokas): Baldwin 11 (7 reb, 5 as), Νikolaidis 6 (5 reb, 4 st), Κoniaris 4, Μilutinov 9, Vezenkov 15 (3 3p., 7 reb), Printezis 11 (3 reb, 5 as), Papanikaolou 8 (2 3p., 3 reb, 6 as, 2 st), Pokusevski, Ellis 13 (5 reb, 1 st, 1 bl.).
Villeurbanne (Μitrovic): Τaylor 12, Jekiri 9, Κahudi 14 (2), Maledon 7 (1), Lomazs, Galliou, Noua 3 (1), Jean-Charles 11 (1 3p, 8 reb), Diot 3 (1 3p, 4 as, 2 st, 5 turnovers), Bako 2, Strazel 3 (1), Lighty 3, Payne 4
"It was a very important victory"
Olympiacos’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas commented: “I would like to congratulate the whole team for the victory. Players, fans, coaching staff, everyone. From my point of view, it was a very important victory, under the circumstances and the problems we were facing. We had to play good defense for the second game in a row, because we are obviously short on facilitation. We want to change of offensive philosophy, the way we attack, the way we facilitate, the way we play the game. I wish the best for Nikola Milutinov. We are expecting the results of the MRI. We hope it’s not something serious. I also wish good luck to the football team that plays against Arsenal”.
When told that Olympiacos will have to start making mathematical equations in terms of qualification scenarios, the pointed out that: “I insist that we should not change our way of thinking. We need to make our team better. We got two players that are going to be helping us a lot. Under that prism, everyone can understand how important Ellis is and that he’s already helping us. So, if we have a ten player core and practice well, we are going to be fighting to win every game. My opinion is that we need to only focus on the next game, only on that. Each time we win one or two games, we start talking about playoffs, we lose one game and then everyone thinks we have zero luck at qualifying. This conversation has been going on since the beginning of the season and is not helpful to our team. We need to focus on the next game”.
Asked whether he told his players to play aggressive defense or to try and protect themselves from foul trouble, he said: “We began the game aiming to be cautious of fouls, without that being my directive. We saw that we had zero fouls, despite having many opportunities to stop lay-ups, mismatches… And we didn’t make fouls. We played a little with their heads so that we don’t get into foul trouble early on. But when you don’t have any contact with anyone, the easier the refs call fouls. You have to go for the contact. So we said it’s better that everyone gets fouled out. It’s obvious that the offense had less quality due to less facilitation. We began playing with four forwards and centers and one point guard. So, we needed to do something different to win, and we players better defense».
Όταν του ζητήθηκε να σχολιάσει την εμφάνιση του Νικολαϊδη, είπε: "Φυσικά και είμαι χαρούμενος που είδα έναν 17χρονο να παίζει. Είχαμε δύο 17χρονους που έπαιξαν, απλά ο Ποκουσέφσκι έχει κάνει μόνο τρεις προπονήσεις μετά από ένα διάστημα μεγάλης αποχής λόγω τραυματισμού και δεν είναι ακόμη έτοιμος για αυτή την ένταση. Είμαι πολύ χαρούμενος. Μπορεί να γίνεται εξ' ανάγκης, αλλά είναι και το καλό της όλης υπόθεσης".
When asked to comment on the performance of Alexandros Nikolaidis, he said: “Of course I’m happy I got to see a 17 year old playing. We had two 17 year olds who played, it’s simply that Pokusevski has only had three practices following a big time of absence due to injure and he’s not still ready for that level of intensity. I’m very happy, It may be out of need, but it’s also good in the long run”.