Enjoyable yet again
Olympiacos was as impressive in the second semifinal against Panionios, as he was in the first game, reaching an 84-58 victory and gaining a 2-0 lead in the series. The Reds are now one win away from advancing to the league finals. With that being said, the next game of the series is on Monday (19/5, 18:00) at Nea Smyrni.
The game started with our team being impressive behind the arc. Panionios’ early 12-16 lead quickly became a 20-16 advantage for Olympiacos with the first quarter ending on a high note for Giorgos Bartzokas’ team, with the score being 28-21.
In the second quarter Olympiacos improved his defense, Lojeski, Perperoglou and Spanoulis had a great game and so the lead got to ten points, with the half ending at 47-33.
At the start of the third quarter Olympiacos was dominant. The Piraeus team’s defense was impenetrable, the offense worked extraordinary and with a 13-0 run during a short, fine minute span, Olympiacos made the score 60-33 which was the game’s biggest margin, up to that point. The Reds allowed only 10 points in the third quarter, which finished with a score of 66-43.
During the last quarter, as one might have guessed, the pace slowed down, but the Reds kept the lead to more than 15 points with ease. Olympiacos offered quality and highlights with the lead reaching -+25 (76-51) at 36’. Finally, the team reached victory, with the final score being 84-58.
Quarters: 28-21, 47-33, 66-43, 84-58.
Olympiacos (Bartzokas): Shermadini 4 (3reb), Dunston 3 (7reb), Spanoulis 12 (2 3pointers, 3reb, 5as), Perperoglou 16 (1 3pointer, 4reb, 1as, 2stls), Papapetrou 5 (3reb, 3blks), Sloukas 8 (2 3pointers, 3as), Collins 5 (3reb, 5as), Simmons 3, Lojeski 14 (4), Printezis 9 (1 3pointer, 7reb), Agravanis 2, Mantzaris 3 (1).
Panionios (Sfairopoulos): McCollum 7 (1), Stamatis 5 (1), Duvnjak 5 (1), Carter 8 (2), Milbourne 14 (2), Athnasoulas, Batis 5 (1), Langford 10, Michel 2, Simtsak, Saloustros 2.
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: «I too, believe that we worked well today on the court, both offensively and defensively. By worked well, I mean our players, during the preparation of both games. They are really focused and serious, have great respect for Panionios and so they are prepared well. This is how we maintained a high level of effort, offensively by moving the ball well and even though we created great looks for shots, our percentages could have been better. Especially the way we created offensively by moving the ball, makes me think that this is the way that I want the team to play. We got a 2-0 lead which was obviously the goal, we know that on Monday it will be a totally different match in Panionios’ home court, so we’ll prepare equally good, in order to make the series 3-0. What I want to say though, is that I believe that all of our players are ready to contribute. You saw that Agravanis, who hasn’t played in a while, played 11 minutes and you saw that the team doesn’t have a void in the position. Since Petway had a minor injury, Agravanis found some minutes to play and he was good».
On whether Olympiacos changed something on his game plan: «First of all, the opponent is playing as well. Panionios isn’t a team that you can overcome easily. Great effort is needed to understand their way of playing. However, as you already know, we had a 14 point lead, that gradually expanded. We share the minutes, all the players played and we played an overall good game for the whole 40 minutes».
Olympiacos’ coach was also asked about the Final Four: «I’ll start this by saying that we’re all sad that we aren’t there, that’s something that . On the other hand, you know that Mr. Stavropoulos was there to receive Dunston’s Defensive Player of the Year award. An amazing feat for Euroleague rookie, as well as Spanoulis, who managed to be on the all Euroleague teams once again. With that being said, we were present there, we would want our team to be there, but I think that our team has a bright future and that in the next few years, we’ll be where we deserve to be. I’ve already told you that in the previous 2 years Olympiacos proved that any prediction is futile. One big factor, is the form of the teams. I believe that the Barcelona-Real games always add great pressure on both teams, like the Olympiacos-Panathinaikos games. After these kind of games but also before them, during the preparation that they need, there’s a lot of pressured that can be a great factor in the outcome as well as the rest of the Final Four».
IOANNIS PAPAPETROU: «It was really important to maintain our rhythm. What we want is to maintain this rhythm up until the end, in order to close out the season on a high note. I’m sure that there’s not going to be an issue regarding our motive since we have plenty. We want to finish the series fast, and then move on to the finals. The coaches are in charge of the different experiments, I can’t say anything about that, we’re trying different schemes on both offense and defense, in order to be completely prepared for the finals».
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: «After the first game we said that we wanted to show up as a better team this time around. There were parts of the game where we were better compare to the first outing. We started the game better, of course, we tried to remain in the game for as long as we could, I think that Lojeski’s three triples in the first quarter widened the margin greatly. Olympiacos gradually expanded their lead, but generally, I think that we looked better than last time. When you play against such a strong opponent, he’s usually the one setting the pace. When a strong opponent like Olympiacos is as focused as they are during this time of the year, the way the game goes depends on them. We want to always be competitive, to get better game by game and we look forward to be better on the next game».
Panionios’ coach said about the Final Four «The Teams’ forms are always a great factor; we can’t predict. A derby of the likes of Barcelona – Real will force the two teams to spend a lot of mental and physical energy. Two teams with an entirely different style play the other semi-final and the game will be very interesting tactic wise. Barcelona gained in terms of psychology by beating Real for the Spanish Championship last week, but from that point on everything is open”