A bad game and a loss in Istanbul
Olympiacos failed to win a valuable road game in Istanbul, losing to Darussafaka 79-75, for the Euroleague 15th round.
The Turkish team set the tempo from the start (24-12, at 10'), relying mainly on its strength in the post, but also to the 'tragic' percentages of the 'reds' (they had 1/2 free throws in the first half, 4/13 twos and 1/6 threes!). David Blatt shuffled the cards, however, none of the line ups he tried was able to find rhythm… The hosts taking advantage of the unforced turnovers of our team took the difference to +17p. (31-14, at 13'). Finally, thank to the efforts by Zach LeDay (he was the only 'red' to have a constant connection with the basket), the team closed in 42-31 by the end of the first half.
The outlook did not get better for Olympiacos in the second half… The things got rather worse, since the 'reds' found themselves trailing at -19 (58-39, at 25'). Nevertheless, they did not give up… With pressing defense and Janis Strelnieks "striking" from the perimeter, our team ran a partial 16-2 and closed in at 5p. (60-55, at 31'). The hosts replied with a partial 6-0 (66-55), while relying on Douglas and Peiners maintained complete control up until 35' (72-60). David Blatt's players once again refused to throw in a white towel… They played good defense and running a 7-0 streak closed in at 3 (72-69, at 38'). However, poor offensive choices did not allow them to complete the come back (76-69, at 39'). With a bucket by Printezis and a three by Strelnieks, Olympiacos made a two point game (76-74) with 15'' to the end of the game. Douglas made the score 77-74 with 1/2 free throws (14.3''), Printezis wrote the 77-75 with one free throw of his own (11.1''), but everything was over when our team failed to win the offensive rebound after the second missed free throw. Douglas made the final 79-75 again from the free throws line.
The quarters: 24-12, 42-31, 60-53, 79-75.
Darussafaka (Ernak): McCallum, Ozmizrak, Kosut, Kidd 8 (2), Ozdemiroglu, Savas 6, Brown 7 (1), Douglas 19, Peiners 16 (1), Dibbler 5 (1), Evans 8, Eric 10.
Οlympiacos (Blatt): Williams-Goss 7, Τoupane 5(1), Spanoulis 7, Timma, Μilutinov 6 (9 reb.), Strelnieks 15, Vezenkov 2, Printezis 10 (9 reb.), Papanikolaou 11 (2), LeDay 12.
«Keep our heads high and move on»
The 'reds' coach commented: "Congrats to Darussafaka. They played an excellent game. We began very loose and lost the first quarter by a huge margin. We came back in the next ones, however, we were always trailing throughout the game. You have to play focused in the Euroleague for all forty minutes, something we did not do tonight. We have to keep our heads high and move on.
When asked to compare the performance of the Turkish team's players to that of their previous games, he replied: "I haven't watched all of our opponent's games. I think that the players that had been here last season as well, played very well against us. I hadn't expected that, but we did not have the proper reaction".
On which area he thinks as being the Achilles' heal for Olympiacos, he said: "It wasn't just one… It is obvious that our defense in the first quarter was far from our standards. We made a lot of turnovers in the first half, which Darussafaka turned to easy points. We did not shoot with good percentages and at the end, we weren't able to win due to all of the above".
Finally, on how he felt to return as an opponent against the team with which he won the Eurocup and if this brings back memories, he commented: "It was beautiful to return and get to see good people and friendly faces. Right now I have focused on Olympiacos. He's the first thing I have in my heart and in my mind. Just like I said before, it was good to see friends before the game, however, that was not the reason we came here. Our goal was for my team to win and I obviously did not do a very good job. And from that point of view, I'm disappointed".
On his part, Janis Strelnieks pointed out: "I don't care what the stats say. Darussafaka played harder than us. They had only won one game, but they had been playing better lately. We are a tough team, but we did not show that tonight. We let them play their game. We did a good job defensively at five on five, but we let them run, just like they wanted to. We made some wrong decisions and we were hasty. Maybe it's good we lost this game to learn from it and stay with our feet on the ground".