Victory and first place with super defense
Olympiacos edged Red Star 64-59 for the ninth day of the Euroleague Regular Season and sealed the first place of its group. A “party” from 12,000 fans at the Peace and Friendship Stadium.
In a magical atmosphere created by Greek and Serbian fans the team of Giannis Sfairopoulos edged Red Star 64-59 and “sealed” the group’s top seed.
The game did not start well for the Piraeus team since the players of Giannis Sfairpoulos were shooting off target and were nervous in the beginning hence Red Star took a 13-16 lead with Boban Marjanovic being unstoppable.
Spanoulis and Lafayette offered solutions in offense and Olympiacos closed in 27-28 at the end of the first half. The two teams continued shooting poorly into the third quarter and thus the score was maintained at low levels with the Radonic team still leading at 30’ (42-48). In the last quarter, the Piraeus team turned the game around with the help of Lafayette, Sloukas and Spanoulis and thus got a very important victory.
After the end of the game the players of the two teams went to salute the organized fans of both Olympiacos and Red Star that watched the game.
Τhe quarters: 13-16, 27-28, 42-48, 64-59.
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Petway 7 (1), Hunter 6, Dunston 4, Spanoulis 15 (2), Sloukas 9 (5as.), Agravanis 4, Mantzaris, Kavvadas 2, Lafayette 11 (3), Darden 4, Lojeski 2.
Red Star (Radonic): Williams 2, Rebic, Dangubic 8 (2), Mitrovic 11 (1), Lazic 3 (1), Blazic 5 (1), Kalinic 10 (2), Marjanovic 17, Tejic, Jenkins, Jovic, Zirbes 3.
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: “The atmosphere was unique, the fans were fantastic and made us feel proud to belong with this team. It was a critical game that would seal the first place, that’s why we knew it would be a close one and would be decided by details, a game where we should remain patient and calm to the end. For sure we were nervous at some points, especially in offense. Marjanovic presence is a difficult puzzle for any opponent. Our defense on him was better in the second half, he only scored 4 points and we kept Williams at low scoring levels for a second game. Red Star made some distant shots which is unusual for them, while we were guarding our post. We forced them into 22 turnovers and we made 11 steals. The guys have understood that only if we play hard on defense we can win big games. We have made a great game and my players need to be congratulated for the first place. We still have one game to play and we need to remain focused”.
DEJAN RADONIC: «Congratulations to Olympiacos and I wish them the best for the Euroleague. They are a team with great ambition and they want to reach as far as they can. The game was very nice in a great atmosphere. It was very good for the players and the coaches to be part of this game. Just like in Belgrade, the game was very tough, the two teams did a great job in defense and contrary to the first game, we were leading for most of the game. However, experience and quality Olympiacos possesses was apparent at the end. We played very good defense in the first half, but we lost a lot of rebounds and we made a lot of mistakes in offense. We should be happy for staying in the game to the end against a team like Olympiacos. We have the youngest team in the Euroleague and we are very happy to have qualified for the TOP-16. We’ll continue with the same team in the next round. Each game we are going to be playing will give us the experience we need”.
BRENT PETWAY: “Despite the fatigue, the fans shouts gave me the boost I needed to take the shot and make it. It happened that I made the critical shot. I made it and we won”, the American forward explained, adding: “the atmosphere created by our fans was great. I wish this was the case with every game. It was the first sold out of the season and we wanted to please our crowd. Defense was the ‘key’. We begin our games from defense. We did not do very well in offense, but we stopped red Star at 59 points”.
BOBAN MARJANOVIC: “First of all, congratulations to Olympiacos and the fans for the atmosphere. Our people from Serbia, Bosnia and elsewhere were here tonight as well. It was a very tough game. Both teams played great defense, it was a good game that we enjoyed playing”.