A qualifying victory
Olympiacos mastered a huge victory on the road, besting Khimki 87-82 and thus setting a solid foundation to qualify to the Euroleauge play-offs.
The European Champions did not make a good start. The Russians took the game where they wanted it to go and managed to lead 23-19 in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Khimki succeeded in scoring inside the basket and with shots from a 4-5 meters range. That’s how they managed to maintain a 6 to 10 points lead.
However, in the second half, Olympiacos turned the tables. The Greek Champions succeeded through defense to make the upset and closed in at 60-54. But it was obvious that the complete upset was only a matter of time. Law, Hines, Spanoulis and Sloukas showed the rest the way and Olympiacos with a partial 22-10 streak took a 76-70 lead. Giorgos Bartzokas and his players imposed their game and reached a very important 87-82 victory.
The quarters: 23-19, 43-35, 60-54, 82-87
Κhimki (Kurtinaitis): Augustine 7, Fritzon 5 (1), Koponen 8 (2), Vialcev, Loncar 19 (1), Rivers, Monia 4 (5reb), Planinic 17, Davis 20, Nielsen 2.
Οlympiacos (Barztokas): Hines 19, Law 5 (1), Antic 11 (1), Spanoulis 19 (2), Perperoglou 1, Shermadini 4, Sloukas 10 (2), Powell, Printezis 4, Papanikolaou 14 (1), Κatsivelis.
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: “It was obviously a very tough and important victory for us. We made a bad start in the first quarter and if you take a look at the numbers, Khimki played an excellent game with many assists and offensive rebounds. The way we were playing and the way Khimki was playing we had a pretty decent difference at half time. However, we had patience, we made some right offensive choices and when our defense improved the game turned our way. It’s the first defeat for Khimki in their home court after a long time and this makes our victory even more important. We now look at our future in the completion with more optimism, but we still have a long way to go. The key point to our victory had been our defense in the second half and the fact that we made an excellent job in the way we moved the ball. Kyle Hines played a perfect game tonight, but Sloukas, Spanoulis and Antic were also very good. I really respect Khimki and the way they play, their course up to now has been nothing but a lucky one and playing against them in their home court is even more difficult. We lost the Cup Final, but some things that happened had nothing to do with basketball. This defeat hurt us for sure, but that’s sports. You always have to move forward and today we have been very competitive”.
KOSTAS PAPANIKOLAOU: “Being defeated for the Cup helped us tonight because it made us be more focused. We knew what we wanted to do from the beginning and we started the game with a lot of motivation. It’s a victory that opens the way to qualification. The basic thing for us is to remain in the same wave length in regard to our philosophy, so that more victories can follow. During the first twenty minutes we let a lot of fast passes to cause us a lot of trouble. We were more focused in defensive duties in the second half; we made some big shots and got the victory”.
The group results
Maccabi Tel Aviv-Barcelona 77-82
Κhimki-Οlympiacos 82-87
Fenerbahce/Ulker-Besiktas 78-72
Siena-Caja Laboral 85-74
Next game (21-22/2)
Fenerbahce/Ulker-Barcelona (21/2)
Maccabi Tel Aviv-Siena (21/2)
Κhimki-Besiktas (22/2)
Olympiacos-Caja Laboral (22/2)
Group Standings
1. Barcelona 6-1
2. Siena 6-1
3. Οlympiacos 4-3
4. Κhimki 4-3
5. Caja Laboral 4-3
6. Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-5
7. Fenerbahce/Ulker 2-5
8.Besiktas 0-7