A heavy loss in Vitoria
Olympiacos lost to Baskonia in Spain 66-91, for the 27th round of the Euroleague.
With good defense and the front line (Jean-Charles, Koufos and Ellis) spearheading the offense, Olympiacos ‘built’ a +10 margin (15-25 at 11’). The Basques however were fast with their response… They put pressure all over the court, led the ‘reds’ to turnovers and bad choices, found target from the perimeter (they had 0/6 in the first quarter) and led by Gedraitis turned the tables running a partial 28-7 (43-32 at 20’).
Στην επανάληψη η ομάδα μας βελτίωσε αισθητά την επιθετική της λειτουργία (βρήκε λύσεις κυρίως δια χειρός ΜακΚίσικ και Ζαν Σαρλ), όμως, αμυντικά η εικόνα της δεν άλλαξε. Η Μπασκόνια συνέχισε να σκοράρει με άνεση τόσο από την περιφέρεια (68-54 στο 29’), όσο και κάτω από το καλάθι, διατηρώντας σταθερά τις αποστάσεις (68-58 στο 30’). Στο 4ο δεκάλεπτο, ωστόσο, οι «ερυθρόλευκοι» κατέρρευσαν ολοκληρωτικά... Πέτυχαν μόλις 8 πόντους (τους 6 στο τελευταίο δίλεπτο), δέχθηκαν 23 και υποχρεώθηκαν σε βαριά ήττα.
Our team got significantly better in terms of offensive operations (found solutions mainly with McKissic and Jean-Charles), but its defensive approach did not improve. Baskonia continued scoring comfortably both from the perimeter (68-54 at 29’), as well as under the rim, maintaining a steady distance (68-58 at 30’). In the 4th quarter though, the ‘reds’ thoroughly collapsed… They only scored 8 points (6 in the last two minutes), received 23 and hence suffered a heavy loss.
* Our team played without Giorgos Printezis, Kostas Papanikolaou and Hassan Martin (injured), while in the beginning of the 3rd quarter, Vassilis Spanoulis suffered a dislocated left thumb and hence was ‘knocked out’ from the remainder of the game.
The quarters: 15-21, 43-32, 68-58, 91-66.
«A shameful loss»
The Olympiacos’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, stated: “Congratulations to Baskonia for a consistent forty minutes’ game. There are no excuses for us, despite the injuries and having traveled here without a few of our players. We made a very good start in the first quarter. We were trailing by 5 or 6 in the second one, and we simply quit after 25’, we stopped playing. We were playing without faith, without confidence and finally allowed Baskonia to win with a huge margin. Tonight was a shame for every player, every coach, for anyone in the bench. We will do whatever it is in our power to get back to our normal standards, so as to play with confidence in two days from now”.
On whether Olympiacos’ bad performance was due to Baskonia’s good defense, he said: “It doesn’t only have to do with your opponent, but also with how you play. We stopped moving the ball, in some cases we were hasty, we did not have the patience to execute according to our plan. We had said that we should remain patient and execute after four or five passes. In some cases, we tried to execute with one pass, or even with none. We did not follow our plan”.
Asked about Olympiacos’ motivation up until the end of the season, he replied: “Only eight teams will continue with Euroleague’s next phase. Even big teams will probably not continue. We need to realize right now which team we are with. It’s very important that fight each game to the end. We also need to realize what Euroleague is. If you get disappointed, you are going to pay for it with a heavy loss. We are going to fight all the games to the end, with whoever is ready to fight”.