One victory away
Olympiacos made the second step towards qualifying to the play-offs finals in the most impressive fashion in the ‘Alexandrion’ gym. The ‘reds’ were in great spirits and made a solid start establishing the foundations for an easy victory.
The ‘reds’ were impressive in the offense from the start and in the second half also tightened their defense, giving their victory triumphant proportions and with Bourousis, Teodosic and Keselj having performed at their best.
The quarters: 23-27, 40-52, 61-75, 76-102.
ΑRIS (Subotic): Brown 5, Κing 8, Τsairelis, Chatzivrettas 11, Charalampides 14 (1), Κasirov 12, Koumpouras 5 (1), Bavcic 17 (1), Chrysikopoulos 2, Verginis 2, Bohorides.
ΟLYMPIACOS (Ivkovic): Papaloukas 7 (7 as.), Gordon 7 (1 3p., 6 as.), Spanoulis 2, Printezis 2, Bourousis 6 (1), Κeselj 13 (2), Μavrokefalides 18, Halperin 8, Glyniadakis 6, Papanikolaou 8 (1), Erceg 10, Τeodosic 15 (2).
DUSAN IVKOVIC: This game was much different than the first one. We did not keep necessary concentration in the first half and that’s not what annoys me, but rather that we did not play good defense. We cannot be receiving 40 points in 20 minutes at this stage of the games, and also not being able to stop Kasirov. Our bench helped us today along with the rotation and now we are getting ready for the third game.
From the first practice of this team, our goal has been to have a percentage of more than 50 in primary and secondary fast breaks. We have been trying to play modern basketball, that’s our philosophy.
ΚOSTAS PAPANIKOLAOU: We knew that the game would not be the same as in the Peace and Friendship Stadium and that we should remain very focused. We did what we do best in the last games, we played good defense and ran fast breaks because three-pointers are not always going to be going in like in they did in the first game.
LEFTERIS SUBOTIC: We reacted different today than in the game in Piraeus. I think that for 25 minutes, despite the lead for Olympiacos was ten points, we were still in the game, but this is not enough to hurt Olympiacos. Absences took a toll on us, since fatigue showed. Today the ego of my players had been obvious, but it’s tough to try and beat Olympiacos with their present roster. We have had more energy, passion and we corrected the mistakes of the Thursday game as much as we could have. We now have to start thinking about our next rival.
ΕDVIN BAVCIC: Olympiacos showed how deeper a roster they have in these two games, since none of their players played more than 21 minutes. We were playing minus three of our basic players today, but we showed a better attitude compared to the previous game. We played very well for 25 minutes, but next, Olympiacos just played great. We have one more chance on Monday to show something better.
Births at the Port
Three new members for the Olympiacos family. On Thursday, the wife of the team’s physical therapist, Marios Tsaggaras, gave birth to the third son of the family, while next day, the second physician of the team, Giannis Tsolos, became a second time dad, also with a son. The happy news for the ‘reds’ were completed just a few hours before the jump ball at the ‘Alexandrion’, since the wife of Michalis Pelekanos gave birth to the second child of the family, a beautiful baby daughter.
Gordon suffers a sprain
Jamon Gordon suffered a sprain in his right foot that doesn’t seem to be serious, but he will undergo a new physical on Sunday at the Peace and Friendship Stadium