Three more steps...
Olympiacos edged Zalgiris Kaunas 74-59 for the 11th day of the Euroleague TOP16, has a 5-6 record and is now focusing on the next “final” against Real Madrid.
The Piraeus team was impressive against the Lithuanians, never allowed any room for them to believe in winning and reached a comfortable 74-59 victory.
THE DEFENSE: The Olympiacos defense was excellent against the Lithuanians. Only in the fourth quarter, when everything was decided, the players of Jasikevicius found some corridors and scored some easy baskets. During the whole rest of the game, ‘Thrylos’ proved why the team has the best defense in Europe.
THE OFFENSE: The offense worked well. The Greek Champions made some good choices, had a clear head and made few mistakes thus easily scoring 74 points and with two players scoring two digits, while another three were very close to doing so.
THE MVP: Giorgos Printezis. The 32 year old forward was once again unstoppable. Either from a short or long range, “Print” was offering solutions and led his company to victory with 17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 assist.
KEEPS, FORGETS: Keeps the victory and the fact that remains alive in the pursue of qualification. Forgets only what had happened beforehand and only looks forward.
THE POINTS
The quarters: 14-15, 39-30, 58-41, 74-59
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Johnson-Odom 4 (1), Hunter (11 reb.), Papapetrou 3 (1), Spanoulis 8, Strawberry 7 (1), Milutinov 9, Printezis 17 (2), Agravanis 2, Mantzaris 2, Warrick 2, Hackett 9 (1), Papanikolaou 11 (1).
Zalgiris Kaunas (Jasikevicius): Randle 3, Vene, Lekavicius 2, Pocius 2, Seibutis 2, Motum 7 (1), Jankunas 12, Vougioukas 14 (10/12 1p.), Sajus 2, Vecvagars 3 (1), Hanlan 6, Ulanovas 6.
THE QUOTES
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: «It’s an important victory in the effort we’ve been making. We played a tough team, that can cause you a lot of problems if you let them get into rhythm, however, we had been focused on our defense for 40 minutes. We stopped Zalgiris at 59 points, with poor shooting percentages and took them out of rhythm. We controlled the game through our defense and with the difference we had built by the end of the first half found the solutions needed. There was a blank space against against zone defense, but we managed to build a safety net. We wish to thank the fans for being here and we want them here with us against Kifissia and also in the next game against Real Madrid.
KOSTAS PAPANIKOLAOU: «We have said that we need to try to the end. We need to fight and we are going to fight all our next games to succeed. No one on the team has quit and we want to do the best we can. We thank the fans that were with us tonight and I’m sure we are going to pay them back playing good basketball”.
GIORGOS PRINTEZIS: «Defense helped us, not only in the second half, but rather from the beginning of the game. We played a great defensive game, got the rebounds, scored easy baskets and that was the key. We now have the next final against Real Madrid. We are going to give all we’ve got. We play in our gym and we are going to give all our energy to do the best we can”.
VANGELIS MANTZARIS: «It was a good victory for us, after a quite good performance, especially in the defensive part of the game, where we always start from. We controlled the rhythm for most part of the game and that’s why we won. We have a game against Kifissia and then we continue with the Euroleague finals, with first tough one the one against Real”.
SARUNAS JASIKEVICIUS: «Congratulations to Olympiacos for the victory. Our biggest problem was that we did not find a solution for Olympiacos aggressive defense. We did not move the ball well. It’s tough playing for this group, but the experience garnered by the players are important. It’s difficult to beat Olympiacos twice during the same season. Things did not go the way we wanted them to and we against had problems with our shooting”.
IAN VOUGIOUKAS: «Congratulations to Olympiacos. They have proved t know how to win games, especially in their home court. We knew it would be a very difficult game, since Olympiacos would hardly qualify to the next round should had they lost. We tried, but made some mistakes and Olympiacos, just like any other big team, punishes you. TOP-16 is a good experience for us, but it’s always tough to lose a game. We will continue our effort”.