And now the difficult games...
What Olympiacos had wanted against Peristeri was an effortless victory and with as many minutes divided among the whole roster. That’s exactly what happened. The “reds” came through the west coast a tornado (87 – 55) and now start focusing all their attention to the game against Anadolou Efes.
Dusan Ivkovic used Marko Keselj after a long time, gave some minutes to the captain Vassilis Spanoulis aiming to resting him, tried different quintets and gave minutes so that his players are fresh in view of the games against Anadolou Efes and Panathinaikos that follow.
The “reds” made a substantial offensive beginning and proved that they never looked down at Peristeri that faces a lot of problems and absences. The Piraeus team played the same way in the second half and showed the same inclination to defense and everything ran smoothly to the end.
The referees: Somos, Αfentoulides, Νikoloulis.
The quarters: 19-28, 34-43, 43-63, 55-87.
Peristeri (Pedoulakis): Papantoniou 4, Kafkis 3, Psaropoulos 5, Giannopoulos 20(3 3p., 10 reb.), Μanolopoulos 12(2), Edwards 7, Prekas 4, Τsiloulis.
Οlympiacos (Ivkovic): Hines 2, Law 7, Αntic 10(1), Spanoulis 4, Dorsey 10(7 reb.), Κeselj 4(6 reb.), Gecevicius 3(1), Glyniadakis, Printezis 20(2), Papanikolaou 8, Μantzaris 8(2), Sloukas 11(3).
DUSAN IVKOVIC: «We did not have a balanced game. Peristeri played a very good first half and I think they got tired while my players reacted better in the second half. Basketball is a game of reaction, we played good defense and reached victory. Despite the difficulties they are going through, I wish Peristeri to make it because they have a long tradition in Greek Basketball and I wish the people of the team to keep the faith. We start tomorrow to prepare for the Euroleague game against Efes».
VANGELIS MANTZARIS: « It was a strange game for me, since it was the first time I played against the team that made me a player. We started out really focused, controlled the game, maintained control, but we did not do what we had decided upon in the second quarter. However, we talked in the locker room and came out with focus on the second half. We built a score and got the victory. Now we are getting ready for the game against Anadolou Efes and we are looking for a very important victory for us since it will give us the chance to move ahead».
ΑRGYRIS PEDOULAKIS: «I think that we lost our two most important players this week. We kept the five most experienced players, or oldest if you prefer on the court for 25 minutes and I’m quite satisfied by their performance. We played as a team and we put in a lot of effort. We put our heart on the floor and played smart. We also gave minutes to the younger guys who gathered some positive and some negative experience from such a game. Unfortunately, we get to throw them on the floor too soon, but they have to swim, there is no other way. I wish good luck to Olympiacos both in Greece and in Europe”.
THODORIS TSILOULIS: «We knew from the beginning it was going to be a difficult game. We did the best we could and for as long our experienced players remained on the floor, we were playing quite well. However, the coach had to rest them and then it got tough for us”.