A promising premiere at Crete
Olympiacos bested Cedevita 76-61 for the Euroleague 2015-16 season premiere. Giorgos Printezis was the top scorer for the winners with 20 points.
The Greek Champions did not begin the game well in the defense and thus allowed the Croatians to stay into the game in the first quarter (21-10). The 'reds' were better on both ends of the court in the second quarter and half time was 38-35.
Things were even better for Giannis Sfairopoulos and his players in the third quarter. Young dominated both posts, Spanoulis was passing assists and Printezis together with Lojeski were unstoppable at scoring hence making the score 57-48. 'Thrylos' offered both substance and show time in the last quarter for the Heraklion fans to enjoy and reached a comfortable 76-61 victory.
Τhe quarters: 21-20, 38-35, 57-48, 76-61
Olympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Young 16, Papapetrou 6, Spanoulis 5 (1), Strawberry, Tsairelis, Miloutinov, Printezis 20, Agravanis 4, Mantzaris 11 (3), Hackett, Lojeski 14 (3), Athinaiou.
Cedevita (Mrsic): Pullen 18 (4), White 8, Zoubsic 16 (1), Pilepic 2, Babic 2, Zganec, Moosa 4, Billan 10, Mazalin, Gordic, Zoric 1, Arapovic.
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: "It was a game of special circumstances. While we were the hosts, we nevertheless weren't playing in our natural home court, but on a court that we only had the chance to practice twice. It's important to have won, because the premiere always hides surprises. When you play at home you want to win to make a strong beginning, but this also brings pressure. Additionally, we had to deal with Milutinov who was feeling discomfort in his knee following a blow at practice. He and the medical staff did their best, but he still wasn't able to play. Considering all the above, our victory is even more valuable. We played more focused and more aggressively in defense in the second half. We received 13 points in the last quarter and beat a team that has already played five official games. It's the beginning of the season and we still need to work. We have to incorporate two different aspects in our game, the new players that need time to receive all necessary feedback and perform as we want them to and we also have to manage the six internationals that were absent during most of the pre-season, so as to make a compact team".
Finally, Giannis Sfairopoulos thanked the Olympiacos fans for the help and Heraklion for the hospitality. "The fans were overwhelming, I don't know if the gym was full, but their voice was powerful enough to give us the boost we needed to win. We sincerely thank them and wish to always have fans in our gym. I want to thank all the people of Olympiacos who worked for tonight's game as well as the administrators of the Heraklion Municipality that gave us the opportunity to play in this wonderful gym. We thank them for all their help and I think we reciprocated with a good performance and a victory".
VANGELIS MANTZARIS: "Good defense will find us rhythm, will make us run the fast break and find us energy in offense. We weren't good in the first half, since we received easy baskets, but we only received 26 points in the second half and thus made victory seem easy at the end. We have said that we are a new team with many new players. That's why we try to introduce them to the team's philosophy. For sure, we have some reference points like Vassilis (Spanoulis) and Giorgos (Printezis), but we all need to step up. Offense is team work, but the important thing is for the team to win games".