Just a walk at the end…
Olympiacos accelerated in the second half and reached an easy 18th victory that maintains him alone at the top of the League ranking.
The “reds” won 85-66 with very good performances by Papanikolaou, Dorsey and Spanoulis.
In the empty Peace and Friendship Stadium (disciplinary League sanction), the hosts did not start out well, giving the Aris players room to wish for …more.
Normality was established just before the end of the third quarter and with good defense as the main weapon, the Dusan Ivkovic’ players increased the difference playing an excellent transition game.
The quarters: 22-20, 44-39, 60-52, 85-66
Οlympiacos (Ιvkovic): Hines 4, Law 6, Αntic 7(1), Spanoulis 15(1), Dorsey 10, Pelekanos 3, Papadopoulos 4, Printezis 10, Papanikolaou 13, Mantzaris 1, Sloukas 8, Κatsivelis 4
Αris (Αlexandris): Mavraeidis 1, Κeroush 4, Τapoutos 9, Τsairelis 6, Davis 8(1), Κrousic 4, Bohorides 2, Bogris 8, Muldrow 9, Verginis 15(2), Dimas
Dusan Ivkovic “There have been two different halves. It took us a lot of time to find rhythm. Nevertheless, we did not control the game well, especially in the first half when we have eight turnovers and five assists. Aris was good, got seven points from fast breaks, but we showed a much better face in the second half. We played defense, ran and reacted better. We continue working despite the upcoming holiday and we are going to try and get back into rhythm.
Gecevicius had a surgery today and I’m in contact with the doctor Mr. Papagiannopoulos to see when he is going to be able to help us. He also played in Moscow with a cyst in the back, it was rooted deep inside and had to be cleaned”.
Dimitris Katsivelis “We did not start the game as strong as we should have. Aris played good defense for 25 minutes, but then we got better, we stole some balls that led to fast breaks made and that’s who we got what we wanted. What really matters now is the game against Galata that is going to be a final”.
Vangelis Alexandris: “For as long as we had some strength, there was a good game. We knew that Olympiacos would want to soften the aftermath of the defeat in Moscow. We hang in there for 32 minutes, we managed to control the offensive work of Olympiacos up to a point, but our opponent had the roster and the experience to finally win with a score that although represents the general standing of the two teams, is kind of not absolutely fair tonight. I wish Olympiacos good luck and may the make the Euroleague play-offs.
You can see the team rosters, you also see ours. With a roster like that, playing two games a week has been an unbearable burden, especially since James left. After completing our European games on Tuesday, having received many positive comments, we are going to be able to work on basic aspects of our game. Dimitris Tsaldaris is going to be coming back, whom we really missed due to his injury, and we are going to show a better face”.
Μichalis Tsairelis “We knew it was going to be a tough evening, we had prepared well and despite the fatigue from the game in Russia, we did what we had to do for 32 minutes. We did not have any more strength however from that point on to fight to the end”.