A victory thanks to defense

Olympiacos bested Besiktas 77-64 for the second day of the Euroleague TOP-16 and now has a 1-1 record.

The players of Giorgos Bartzokas entered the game strong and with Printezis and Spanoulis leading the team at 20-13. Sloukas and Antic gave a lot of assistance in the next quarter and thus the European and Greek Champions were leading 37-27 at half-time.

In the third quarter, each time the Turks were trying to make the upset, the “reds” would answer back. That’s how the margin in favor of the “reds” was kept and the third quarter ended 57-46 for Olympiacos. During the last quarter, the Piraeus team continued playing excellent defense and reached a 77-64 victory.

The quarters: 20-13, 37-27, 57-46, 77-64

Οlympiacos (Bartzokas): Hines 8, Law 8, Antic 7 (1), Spanoulis 18 (2), Perperoglou 2, Sloukas 9 (2), Powell 7, Printezis 14 (2), Papanikolaou 4, Mantzaris.
Besiktas (Κunter): Ewing 15 (1), Guler 5, Αkin 2, Falker 4, Cetin 5, Markota 14 (2), Christopher 4, Nalga 2, Ozer, Jerrells 13.

GIORGOS BARTZOKAS

“This game attracted a lot of people and we have to thank our fans. Each game for the TOP-16 is important and we won this one against Besiktas because we played very good defense. Especially on the three Americans, Jerrells, Ewing and Christopher. We secluded them from the Basiktas play and this has been of decisive importance. We weren’t good in offense, but in any case, the victory is very important. We have a tough game in Barcelona and we are going to prepare accordingly and challenge each potential. It's still very early to draw conclusions. The sure thing is there are three undefeated teams, Siena, Khimki and Caja that had not been among the favorites and this indicates the level of competition in our group. I think we have a long road ahead and we are only interested in the next game. It’s obvious that we cannot lose home court games. But I have faith in my team and I think we can win in any European court. I think we are on the right path; Shermadini is going to get incorporated as well. Whoever comes on the floor is going to be ready, for example, just like Sloukas who helped us a lot despite having not played at all against Caja”.

ΚOSTAS SLOUKAS

“What we had wanted was to start the game focused. We wanted to win and we did it. We still haven’t found our rhythm due to the holidays, but I think we gave everything from the beginning of the game. We remained focused throughout the game and especially in defense and that’s how we succeeded victory. We look at one game at a time, Olympiacos wants to win every game because we are a big team and that’s what we are going to try to do in Barcelona”.

Standings

1.    Siena 2-0 4
2.    Caja Laboral 2-0 4
3.    Κhimki 2-0 4
4.    Οlympiacos 1-1 3
5.    Barcelona 1-1 3
6.    Fenerbahce 0-2 2
7.    Besiktas 0-2 2
8.    Μaccabi Tel Aviv 0-2