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Victorious in Milan

Olympiacos had needed a victory on the road to correct the … mistake of the home defeat to Zalgiris and got one in Milan.

Olympiacos had needed a victory on the road to correct the … mistake of the home defeat to Zalgiris and got one in Milan.

Giorgos Bartzokas’ players played focused and within their coaches’ strategic plan throughout the game. This was enough to carry them to a victory that may prove valuable for the future.

The ‘reds’ controlled the game from the start and playing excellent defense on Langford and Cook gained a small lead that managed to retain through every Italian counter attack.

The quarters: 17-24, 36-41, 50-59, 71-84
Milan (Scariolo): Giachetti, Hairston15 (2), Fotsis, Cook, Chiotti 1, Bourousis 16, Melli 2, Langford 17 (1), Gentile 3, Hendrix 4, Basile 2. 
Olympiacos (Bartzokas): Hines 8 (5 reb.), Law 6, Αntic 7, Spanoulis 23 (5/8 3p., 9as.,), Perperoglou, Sloukas, Mavroeidis 13 (7reb.), Powell, Gecevicius, Printezis 7 (1), Papanikolaou 17 (5/6 3p.), Mantzaris (1 3p., 5 as., 3 st., 3 reb.).

GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: It was a good night for us both in offense and in defense. We stayed within our defensive plans for 38 minutes and did an excellent job on Hairston and Langford. You saw once again that Euroleague is very tough and that’s why we need to go one step at a time. I would like to thank my players for this victory and the fans of Armani for the apotheosis of Spanoulis at the end. They proved to acknowledge good performances.

Mavroeidis is a member of the National team. He didn’t have many minutes up to now, but he’s starting to find rhythm through the Greek League games and showed to be of Euroleague level.

The Euroleague is even tougher for us this season. We are targeted by everyone; everyone is extra motivated playing against us. We have young guys, four very important players of ours are born in the 90ies and what they are experiencing is brand new to them. We have a good team, we have been working hard and I think that everyone will be happy with us at the end.

VASSILIS SPANOULIS: We had wanted this victory and we had believed in achieving it for many reasons. It’s a very important victory both psychologically and ranking wise. We had really studied the opponent, especially in regard to our defense. It doesn’t matter who scores, grabs one or five rebounds, or completes a defense, all is equally important to us. We achieved a miracle last season with team work and that’s what we’ve been doing this year.

About reaching 121 games in the Euroleague matching the records of Panagiotis Giannakis and Panagiotis Fassoulas: It’s a great honor to have the same number of games with the former National Coach and Panagiotis Fassoulas.

About the apotheosis from behalf of the Armani fans: I can’t say I wasn’t moved and I didn’t get goose bumps with the applause of the fans because it’s really great for the fans to acknowledge your offer. It’s very different to see the fans give you a standing ovation in a foreign gym, but the main thing is for the team to win games. Winning is the best reward for all of us.

KOSTAS PAPANIKOLAOU: What counts is the two points of the victory at the end, but getting a win on the road against such a good team is very big on the psychological factor and it’s something we all had needed at the time, to boost our psychology. We had all been very stressed and feeling down. We don’t need to talk about correcting mistakes and talk big at all, it was a good win away from home and that’s what we are holding on to. I took some shots at the beginning, I was feeling well, I made the shots and all went well. The important thing is we won.