Olympiacos storms through
Olympiacos was terrific against Panionios. The 'reds' played a solid yet spectacular game against the team from Nea Smyrni beating it 108-65.
The players of Giannis Sfairopoulos began the game with excellent shooting percentages. Dunston was unstoppable, Spanoulis was passing assists throughout the game and thus the 'reds' were leading 32-17 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Piraeus team defense got even better. During that time Olympiacos received only 11 points and the difference was up to +23 (51-28) for the hosts.
In the third quarter, 'Thrylos' continued in the same pattern, Hunter and Darden were doing a great job on both ends of the floor and the score was 60-34 at 23'. During the following four minutes Olympiacos with a partila 9-2 sent the difference to +33 (69-36). Lojeski was 'hot' behind the 6.75 meters arc and the third quarter ended 80-43 for the 'reds'.
In the last quarter Olympiacos continued presenting a full show. A dunk by Vassilis Kavvadas wrote the 94-49 on the board at 33'. Olympiacos climbed passed the 100 points mark during the last seven minutes and reached an easy final score of 108-65.
The quarters: 32-17, 51-28, 80-43, 108-65
Olympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Petway 6 (6reb), Hunter 10 (3reb) , Dunston 15 (3reb, 3as), Spanoulis 7 (1 3p, 5as), Darden 11 (2 3p, 5as), Papapetrou 4, Sloukas 9 (7as), Lafayette 1 (6as), Lojeski 18 (4 3p.), Agravanis 12 (1 3p., 6reb), Mantzaris 3 (1), Kavvadas 12.
Panionios (Hougaz): Xanthopoulos, Petropoulos 2, Verginis 9 (2), Sei 12 (2), Spyropoulos 2, Strnad 7 (1), Billis, Stamatis 3, Georgiadis, Coleman 22, Tamps 8 (1).
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: "It's tough following a big European success to find motivation and play for the domestic League. We have had the necessary focus and seriousness to do so. We respected our selves and the opponent and remained focused and serious just like we always need to be. I should point out that we had 34 assists and 5 turnovers. It's a good number that shows team work in offense and defense. We have a very important game to play Saturday and we are focusing on it. The game against Panathinaikos can have no impact on the Final Four. It's totally separate. We are going to deal with the Final Four when the time comes… The good thing is that everyone got minutes, so they can get into rhythm and be ready on Saturday".
DIMITRIS AGRAVANIS: "It was a League game after a long time. We had to be focused and bring energy on the floor in view of the derby. We were serious for most part of the game and won".