A breath away from first place
Olympiacos overcame the obstacle of Neptunas 89-79 and has now seven victories in eight games played for the Euroleague Regular Season.
The team of Giannis Sfairopoulos took a 24-19 lead in the first quarter thanks to excellent performance of Petway and Spanoulis. The Piraeus team continued in the same rhythm into the second quarter, improved their defense and hence the half time 47-36 lead.
The 'reds' dominated the court completely in the third quarter. Defense got even better compared to the first half and with Petway, Lafayette and Dunston playing full force in offense, Olympiacos made the score 69-53.
The team of Giannis Sfairopoulos maintained the difference to two digit levels in the last quarter and the final score was 89-79.
The quarters: 24-19, 47-36, 69-53, 89-79
Olympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Petway 20 (4), Hunter 8, Dunston 15, Spanoulis 13 (1), Sloukas 7 (1), Agravanis 5 (1), Mantzaris, Lafayette 12 (2), Darden 9 (1).
Neptunas (Makzvytis): Girdziunas 2, Sinica 6 (2), Dimsa, Gailius 9 (2), Galdikas 8, Shakur 9 (1), Benson 11, Zavackas 15 (1), Vasylius 8 (1), Butkevicius 11 (1).
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: "We came up with a comfortable victory, we needed one after the negative result in Vitoria. We played the way we want to at some points in the game. We have had some ups and downs that we need to eliminate, but we generally worked well in defense. In general, we relied on our defense, had some blank two minute periods when we allowed the opponent to score easy points. This happened around three times. Defensive rebounds were our biggest problem tonight, we need to improve on that. But we also moved the ball well inside and outside the post and proved we are getting into rhythm in offense coming close to required standards".
Asked about Brent Petway's performance, the Greek coach of Olympiacos said that "I don't like talking about players individually, but since you asked, Petway is an athlete with whom I'm really satisfied with the way he has been working at practices, his game performances and this defensive contribution. He's very good. It's not the first game he played well. I believe in all our athletes. Players are not machines, they have bad days too, but the most important thing is team effort and everyone has been trying for the good of the team".
KOSTAS SLOUKAS: "We are an experienced team and began the game strong. The Lithuanians always play up tempo. We were focused and won easily" was the original comment of the Greek guard who added in regard to lost defensive rebounds "It's a matter of will. The truth is we made some changes in regard to the match ups with our power forwards; it's purely a matter of will to go for the ball. We need to improve on that. The incorporation of players that are returning from injuries is going to raise our level. We are setting the foundations and we are going to be getting better as time goes by".
BRENT PETWAY: "We are keeping the victory tonight, but we should be concerned about defensive rebounds lost. I usually was outside the perimeter when I was trying to go for a block and did not help as much as I would have wanted. For sure it was a good game for me, especially in offense, but I wish to stay true to my role. The team wants me to bring energy into the game, to play good defense, to try to block the ball in every defense and go after every board. This had also been my role last season. I definitely feel more experienced this year; it's something that helps me. It happened that I scored quite a few threes tonight, since the opponent gave me the room to shoot. It happened that I had a good night but what's important is for the team to win games".
KAZYS MAKSVYTIS: "It has been a great opportunity for us tonight to play against a team like Olympiacos, who got an advantage in the first half and kept it to the end. We played better in the second half, but Olympiacos maintained control and won. We have two more Euroleague games to play to see if we can qualify to the next round".