Olympiacos 4Χ4!
Olympiacos came through the home court of red Star victorious (62-57) and now counts four victories after the first four rounds of the Euroleague Regular Season.
The game began with our team playing excellent defense and gaining a 5-11 lead six minutes into the game. The hosts, however, following a partial 9-2 run were ahead 14-13 at the end of the first quarter.
The players under Giannis Sferopoulos improved their defensive performance even more in the second quarter and with Agravanis, Mantzaris and Dunston doing a great offensive work the difference climbed above ten points (26-37) that was also the score at the end of the first half.
Defense got even better at the beginning of the second half. The Serbs were scoring with extreme difficulty while on the contrary Spanoulis and Dunston were co-operating perfectly and both of them were taking turns ‘hurting’ the hosts with the third quarter ending 36-50.
Red Star tried for the big come back in the last quarter. Collins, Blazic and Marjanovic were playing very well closing 55-57. But the reds kept a cool head at that crucial moment and the 57-62 victory was theirs.
The quarters: 14-13, 26-37, 36-50, 57-62
Red Star (Radonic): Williams 7 (1), Dangubic 2, Mitrovic 4, Lazic 5, Blazic 10 (2), Kalinic 10, Marjanovic 13, Jenkins 2, Jovic, Zirbes 4.
Olympiacos (Sferopoulos): Petway 8 (2 3p, 4 reb, 2 st, 1as, 1bl), Hunter 2, Dunston 11 (4reb, 3bl), Spanoulis 14 (3 3p, 2reb, 4as), Sloukas 4, Αgravanis 8 (2 3p, 9reb, 2bl), Mantzaris 7 (1 3p, 5reb, 3as, 1bl), Katsivelis, Lafayette 5 (1 3p, 1st, 1as), Darden 3 (1 3p).
GIANNIS SFEROPOULOS: “First of all and before I say anything about the game, I would like to thank Red Star and the fans of Red Star for the welcome and this amazing atmosphere. I hope we have the chance to reciprocate in the game in the Peace and Friendship Stadium. Now, in regard to the game, our goal had been to control the tempo and we were defense oriented, I think we did well, but we still had some blank periods on which we need to work and improve. Red Star is a team of rhythm and we had planned ahead not to allow them get into it, we did that, but we made some mistakes in the fourth quarter, Red Star came back and this is what we need to focus on and fix”.
BRAYANT DUNSTON: “It was an important victory because we were playing in the most difficult home court in Europe, the atmosphere was amazing, showed character and got a victory we needed”.
VASSILIS SPANOULIS: “I would like to thank Red Star and their fans for the amazing atmosphere. It’s very nice playing in a packed gym with such an atmosphere. In regard to the game, I think we are on the right track, but we still have a lot to fix”.
Asked on whether Olympiacos can repeat the success of 2012 and 2013, out team captain replied that “this is very far, we are looking at one game at a time and what we are doing the next day”.
Asked on the atmosphere in the gym, Spanoulis said that “our coaches had prepared us for what we were going to encounter, it was an awesome feeling, but we stayed focused and won”.