An easy first victory
Olympiacos bested Rethymno 77-62 and is now leading the play-offs semi - finals 1-0. The next game is scheduled for Friday (31/5, 17:15 CET).
The Piraeus players weren’t shooting particularly well in the first quarter and it was thus the guests managed to stay within the game (18-16). In the second quarter, however, the European Champions had been magnificent. Playing seminar defense, the team of Giorgos Bartzokas run a partial 25-6 and was leading 43-22 at the end of the first half.
The difference in the third quarter reached 30 points (63-33) and from that point on the Olympiacos players had already started thinking about the second game. The pace slowed down, Rethymno cut down the difference in half and the game ended 77-62.
Τhe quarters: 18-16, 43-22, 65-37, 77-62
Οlympiacos (Bartzokas): Hines 12, Law 4 , Antic 6 (2), Spanoulis 9 , Perperoglou 6 , Shermadini 2, Sloukas 8, Powell 10, Gecevicius 3 (1), Printezis 8, Papanikolaou 9 (1).
Rethymno (Yaples): Horne 13 (1), Kallinikidis 3, Pruitt, Angelopoulos 10 (1), Tsarouchas, Tsochlas, Duvnjak 3, Kommatos 8 (2), Carter 11 (2), Latovic, Pettway 12 (2), Sizopoulos 2.
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: “Rethymno is persistent and wants to remain at the top of Greek basketball. They certify organized effort. They are the best of the peripheral teams. We played focused for 18 minutes and attained at large difference but then our players “shut down”. We weren’t serious during the last quarter, but I understand where they are coming from. Of course we had wanted to find rhythm through this game. Both Rethymno and Patra are athletic teams and can cause a lot of problems if you are not prepared”.
GIORGI SHERMADINI: “We played well and we are ready for this series. We did a good job in defense. I’m fine, I have started practicing three days ago and I feel very well”.
THANASSIS YAPLES: “Congratulations to Olympiacos for winning the Euroleague. It’s important that the title has stayed in Greece for the third year in a row and all the more, with a Greek coach. I cannot lie about the game. The team has emptied from a psychological point of view. It’s very tough keeping the team on a competitive level against Olympiacos. We are only thinking about the third place and the games against Panionios. We can only last that long. We play a very specific game and Olympiacos can easily tear you apart as soon as they read your game, that is after the first quarter. Playing in Europe does not depend on us. We fulfill none of the prerequisites, either for the Eurocup or the Eurochallenge. I don’t know if there’s going to be a miracle. But we cannot play in another place in Crete due to very intense sectionalism”.
ΑKIS KALLINIKIDIS: “We are all happy for Olympiacos for winning the Euroleague. We all tried today to be consistent and competitive, but it all comes down to who you play against. And we were playing against the European champion who is at the peak of their shape. We are going to try and fix as many mistakes as we can on Friday”.