Impressive Reds!
Olympiacos was amazing in the first semifinal against Panionios, who the team beat 78-43, making the series 1-0. The next game of the series is on Thursday (15/5, 21:30)
The game started well for our team with Perperoglou, Printezis and Spanoulis leading the way for the Reds offensively, thus getting a 17-10 lead in the first 8 minutes. Mardy Collins defended McCollum well, helped on offense and Olympiacos finished the first quarter, leading Panionios 21-15.
Two minutes into the second quarter, Giorgos Bartzokas’ players went on a 4-0 run, sending the lead to double digits for the first time (25-15). With their feet stuck on the gas, the players made sure that the lead stayed above ten points. Vassilis Spanoulis made it 38-22 with 2/2 free throws 18 minutes in. Half-time ended 43-29 for our team.
In the third quarter the Reds completely dominated. On defense the team was impressive, allowing only 6 points in ten minutes, while at the same time scoring 17, thus getting the lead over 20 points, ending the third quarter 60-35 and practically putting a firm grasp on the win.
In the final quarter, Olympiacos first came close to a 30 point margin (68-39) at the 34’ mark. The team was enjoyable and offered quality and highlights with the margin reaching 34 points (73-39) at the 36th minute. Finally, Olympiacos became victorious over Panionios by a final score of 78-43 and got the 1-0 lead in the semifinals series.
Quarters: 21-15, 43-29, 60-35, 78-43
Olympiacos (Bartzokas): Petway 9 (2 3pointers, 3stls), Shermadini 5, Dunston 3, Spanoulis 9 (1 3pointer, 6as), Perperoglou 8 (1 3pointer, 3reb), Papapetrou 3 (1), Sloukas 7 (1 3pointer, 5as), Collins 16 (3 3pointers, 5reb, 3as), Simmons, Lojeski 11 (2 3pointers, 6reb, 2as), Printezis 7 (7reb), Mantzaris.
Panionios (Sfairopoulos): McCollum 14 (2), Duvnjak 3 (1), Carter, Milbourne 6, Athanasoulas, Batis, Skordilis, Langford 10 (1), Michel, Simtsak 6, Kyritsis 4.
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: «The first game in the series went, as everyone saw, better than we expected. This is due to both the way we faced the match and the bad that Panionios had, who scored 14 points, they had a bad day, we played good defense, but we don’t expect such a performance from them on Thursday, we think they’ll be way better. We approached the game well, we were serious and focused, we protected the rim as well as we could, we tried some new things on defense and the difference showed on the glass and the assists and while we had 13 turnovers, they didn’t cost us. I repeat myself by saying that the series against Panionios won’t be as easy as some may think after today’s match and I’m sure that both teams will have a different approach to the game on Thursday ».
MATT LOJESKI: «I think we played really good. We played really good defense, shared the ball well and had many assists, we played our game and reached victory. We think about each game separately , but to be honest, we have the finals in the back of our minds and we want to prepare good enough, to be absolutely ready and use as many players as we can in order to be completely ready for the finals».
MARDY COLLINS: «It was a good game, especially on defense where we played exceptionally. We were concentrated, had our minds set on defense, which helped us get a lot of fast break chances, we executed whatever coach told us in practice, but I want to say that we generally looked and played good. I believe that my presence has improved, both because my conditioning has come back, but also because I feel more comfortable, I know what they expect from me and I always give my best. I had previously gotten used to being a scorer for my previous teams, it took me some time, but I know feel better and I’m ready to do anything to help the team».
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: «Congratulations to Olympiacos, the team didn’t let us any room to play well, the players were serious and got the 1-0 lead in the series. They also expanded the lead a lot in the second lead while holding us back offensively. I believe that we underperformed, our lever of play is not the one that we put on display out on the court, we wanted to look good and maybe this big will of ours gave us more pressure, resulting in many missed shots, lay ups and generally bad percentages, especially in the first half. What we have to do is focus on the second game in which we want to be more competitive».
GAIOS SKORDILIS: «Today we came to play the first match of a series against a good team, we wanted to be competitive, we managed that in some parts of the game, we had few turnovers in the beginning, but later on we had bad percentages on all types of field goal attempts which led to us not being able to come back. I hope we are more competitive in the next game».