An important victory over Bayern!
With Kostas Sloukas being the MVP of the game, Olympiacos bested Bayern Munich 84-82 – for the 18th round of the Euroleague – in a game the ‘reds’ were missing Kostas Papanikolaou and Shaquielle McKissic (injured) and Antonis Koniaris (ill).
Relying on good perimeter percentages, Olympiacos got to lead with 7p. (16-9, at 6’), however, Bayern replied in the same fashion. The German team took advantage of unforced turnovers and gaps in the defense of the ‘reds’ and running a partial 9-0 got to lead by 2 at 8’ (18-16).
The players of Giorgos Bartzokas put pressure in the defense, moved the ball, made some good offensive choices and regained the lead (25-24) at 12’. However, that was only temporary. The Germans opened fire from the 6.75m. arc once again, got a 7p. lead (30-37) and consistently maintained the distance up to 18’ (37-44).
Olympiacos reacted once again though… Kostas Sloukas was the perfect organizer of the game, Sasha Vezenkov and Octavius Ellis were spearheading the offense and the game was tied 44-44. Finally, it was Bayern that close the fist half leading, with scoring by Flaccadori.
Despite the many missed defensive rebounds, Olympiacos succeeded through solid defense and with Kostas Sloukas as the main protagonist, to gain a +5 lead (64-59 at 29’). Relying Sloukas, Vezenkov and Ellis, the ‘reds’ increased the difference to +9 (77-68) at 35’, but the Germans, thanks to Seeley closed in at two points (84-82) with 30’’ on the clock. The score did not change however, since defense was what gave our team the victory!
The quarters: 19-22, 44-46, 64-61, 84-82.
"An important victory"
The coach of Olympiacos, Giorgos Bartzokas, pointed out: “It was a very important victory for us, against such a tough opponent like Bayern. It was the first game of the second round and we wanted to begin with a win. We did not have two very important players at our disposal, Papanikolaou and McKissic. I would like to congratulate my players for the way they handled the game. They stopped Bayern from facilitating in the second half, despite Seeley scoring some amazing and very tough shots. He made 7/8 threes and usually, when your opponent succeeds with these kind of shots, you lose the game. But we still got the victory. Congratulations to my players. We are looking at the next game. Also, congratulations to Bayern, they have a very good team this season”.
Asked if this was the most important victory of his team due to the important absences of the roster, he replied: “Theoretically yes, but I don’t want you to forget that Bayern was also playing without Djedovic and Lucic. This is what the Euroleague is… It’s a league that evolves for months, but luck plays a very important role as well, and I mean that literally. That means that in critical moments within the season, it depends on how many players you have available, how many you don’t have. Bayern hasn’t had Covid cases, contrary to us that went through a competition crisis due to that fact. The absences were significant, but we shouldn’t duel on them, we should rather be focusing on those present. Having won is important. And it doesn’t matter with how many points you get to win. What Olympiacos needs to be doing is to stabilize its performance and the players that lack experience need to understand how we need to be playing”.
On whether he chose to play with a tall rotation due to how the game was evolving, he replied: “The game always guides you, but we had also tried big line ups during practice. We played with Vezenkov at the ‘3’ position because we wanted to be able to switch. By switching, we got the rebounds and in general, that line up with Jean-Charles, Ellis and Vezenkov went well. They were effective”.
Finally, asked in which areas of the game his players would be getting a good grade and in which a bad one, he said: “I think we were very lucky that we were only two points behind at the end of the first half. We tried to play on ball, were over dribbling, our execution was usually without any pass or after only one pass, rarely after two passes. We were anxious to win this game from the first half. During our good period when we scored a lot and built a margin for us, the difference was that we were passing the ball and finding the open players. We have good shooters, but we also need to be able to facilitate. We should be realists, we don’t have the talent of the top Euroleague teams, so we need to be careful as to how we attack the basket and how we defend”.
The coach of Bayern Munich, Andrea Trinchieri, commented: “Congratulations to Olympiacos. It was a very tough game, a physical one and fun to watch. We dished 23 assists, scored the same number of threes, got 12 offensive rebounds and lost in the last play. I think that we played an excellent game in the absence of five players. I’m sorry for my players, because they played really hard and never gave up the fight. Also, when Olympiacos scored some big threes, we played as a team. The only thing that was not right, was the final score on the score board. All the rest were correct. We came here without five players and played as if we were missing no one. But what’s done is done… I’m proud for my players and the way they played against such an experienced team. We are moving on to the next game”.
When asked to comment on the performance of the former player for the ‘reds’, Wade Baldwin, he pointed out: “Olympiacos is a very experienced team and they know how to deal with this kind of players. For Baldwin, this is practically his eighth month in Europe, since last season was not completed due to Covid. He had been outstanding against Barcelona and he wasn’t good tonight. Nevertheless, we came to a point to challenge the victory in the last shot. That says a lot”.