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100 points once again

Olympiacos, following a great second half performance, bested Aris 100-65 and now has 8 victories in 8 League games, thus remaining undefeated at the top of the ranking.

Olympiacos, following a great second half performance, bested Aris 100-65 and now has 8 victories in 8 League games, thus remaining undefeated at the top of the ranking.

The Greek and European Champions had many defensive problems in the first half and that’s why the score was 46-40 at 20’. However, in the second half, the ‘reds’ played magnificently in defense and managed to stop Aris at 25 points, while they scored 54,writing the final 100 – 65. The best players for the Giorgos Bartzokas team were Gecevicius and Papanikolaou, while six players scored double digits.

Τhe quarters: 28-24, 46-40, 73-51, 100-65
Οlympiacos (Bartzokas): Hines, Antic 10 (1 3p., 4 reb.), Spanoulis 8 (8as., 2 st.), Perperoglou 2, Sloukas 7 (1 3p., 4 as.), Mavroeidis 11 (4 reb.), Powell 14 (6/6 1p., 4/8 2p.), Gecevicius 14 (2/2 1p., 3/3 2p., 2/3 3p.), 3 reb., 2 as., 2 st., Printezis 12 (5 reb.), Papanikolaou 16 (5/5 2p., 2/2 3p.), Mantzaris, Katsivelis 6.
Aris (Angelou): Pasalic 12 (2), Hunt 1, Pelekanos 16 (2), Vezenkov, Asimakopoulos 5, Κarapostolou, Charisis 4, Bohoridis 8 (1), Sarikopoulos 10, Verginis 9 (1), Tsakaleris. 

* Before jump-ball, the owner of the Club Mr. Panagiotis Angelopoulos presented Vangelis Angelou, the head coach of Aris, with an honorary plate for his offer to the team of Olympiacos in the two years that he worked with the ‘reds’ as an assistant coach to Mr. Ivkovic.
*The general director of Olympiacos BC Mr. Christos Stavropoulos gave Michalis Pelekanos a flower assortment before jump-ball in acknowledgment of his contribution to the club.

GIORGOS BARTZOKAS:  “ARIS played very well in the first half, hit us in our weak spots, had good percentages and was competitive. We were better in the second one and the score got that wide of a margin. It was an interesting match and they found the chance to applaud for the two members of last year’s roster. Olympiacos’ crowd knows how to appreciate those who contribute. We have some trips in the next five days. In this manner, we want to experiment with different rotations. Katsivelis had a great part in the game and he showed that he’s ready. In the Greek League, there’s a 3 week break but we’re probably going to have around 2 days off. ARIS has principles in his game, a Greek structure and I wish them good luck”.

On the greater stock from last year’s coaching staff: “Much has been said. Olympiacos is a team that produces titles and the most important part is that there were two titles that came and will forever stay in history. Greek players have improved, there have been some choices of foreign players like Law and Hines, and Olympiacos wants to keep them for many years to come”.

On Josh Powell: “The most important things are titles and wins. We’ve won 11 straight while at the same time, a new player came. That means that he’s adaptation is in good level. He’s still adjusting to the European style of play. He keeps getting better and better and he’ll help us. Every player has some manifestations. He plays for 15-20 minutes and our team has decreased the opponent’s points scored by 20 points a game. We’re good defensively too. We have to improve some things, but he’s very good. He’s a player that has also really helped us in Euroleague”.

On whether he’s worried about the team being in shape to early:“I, too, discuss this with friends. There is a certain way that a team works. What we want is for us to be well, when titles are judged. We’ve got our personal daily routines, we’re organized well as a club, good support and our goal is to be even better. If it’s better to play like we did in the last few games, it’s at least not necessary for us to be troubled. We’ve got time to evolve. We weren’t that bad in the beginning nor now have we become the favorites for the Euroleague title. When we played Zalgiris at home, we were coming of a game against Panathinaikos. Now they were the ones to have played just three days ago with Lietuvous. Whoever does an analysis must check the schedule and the conditions first. We weren’t incompetent then, nor are we super now”.

On Martynas Gecevicius’ performance: “He’s needed to be ready when he plays. He did it successfully last season, when he was really good in the end of it. Whoever wants to have a career must be mentally ready. We need improvements everywhere. In the A1 League we have an obvious advantage whereas in Euroleague we aimed to qualify to the Top16. There are ten strong teams in Euroleague. The new competition is a new championship with the 14 games and I believe that we’ll make it”.

DIMITRIS KATSIVELIS: “We came into the match not focused enough. We tried not to underestimate the opponent. The defense wasn’t so strong, in the second half we had patience and we improved. We managed to take that win, but what comes next isn’t easy”.