Signed by Spanoulis
With Vassilis Spanoulis at the lead, Olympiacos escaped from Rhodes and remained at the top of the ranking. V-Span scored a big three-pointer during the last seconds of the encounter and only a little later made one free throw giving Olympiacos the victory 68-71.
The “reds” were far from being good, but in the middle of the second quarter and for four minutes played excellent basketball running a 17-0 string and turning the game from 27-20 in favor of Kolossos to 27 – 37 in their favor. However, the hosts never gave up and the game was a derby to the end, when Vassilis Spanoulis signed the victory.
Τhe quarters: 18-15, 15-26, 23-18, 13-12.
Κolossos Rhodes (Giannis Sferopoulos): Calathes 23, Kafkis 5, Jordan 3, Asimakopoulos 4, Charisis 8, Tsamis 13, Pappas 2, Golemac 9, Georgalis 1.
Οlympiacos (Dusan Ivkovic): Papaloukas, Νesterovic 3, Gordon 3, Spanoulis 30, Κeselj, Mavrokefalides, Halperin 2, Glyniadakis 11, Papanikolaou 4, Erceg 11, Τeodosic 7.
The protagonists…
DUSAN IVKOVIC: “We have worked well all this time and I cannot understand why we had such an image. Maybe it was that we played in such a small gym. The first quarter got to us and it cost. We did not have balanced positioning and we received many baskets from primary fast breaks, but we won at the end. Spanoulis showed his character at the end. Vassilis made the difference today at the game. Congratulations to Giannis Sferopoulos and to Kolossos. There is a lot to learn from this game.”
JOTAM HALPERIN: “We have to congratulate Kolossos because they played very good basketball both defensively and offensively. On our part, we have to learn from this game. We have worked well the whole week, but we didn’t show it today. Now, we have to focus at the game against Kavala and then we’ll focus on the game that interests the most, which is the derby against Panathinaikos.”
GIANNIS SFEROPOULOS: “When you play Olympiacos, you are not the favorite to win, and this gives you an advantage since you have no pressure. We played a very good game, we proved that we fight all games against tough opponents. I congratulated my players in the locker rooms. It’s certain that games like that add up points in our favor in regard to the work we’ve been doing. The second quarter cost us a lot, since we received 26 points, but in the second half we turned the game, we remained calm, but at the end it was Olympiacos that won because they have huge experience and quality. Good luck to Olympiacos and to the coach. We continue with what we do. I wouldn’t change anything in the last defense. Who is the Olympiacos player that you can leave unguarded? Teodosic? Papaloukas?”
JURICA GOLEMAC: “We had a huge opportunity to beat a great opponent, but we didn’t make it. And this happened because the second quarter had a toll on us, when we didn’t play well and went completely outside what we had planned. And of course, Vassilis Spanoulis had a lot to do with it all, because it’s not that we played poor defense on him, but tonight he showed why he’s one of the best European players of our time”.