An epic victory against CSKA!
A decimated Olympiacos (with Vassilis Spanoulis, Giorgos Printezis, Taylor Rochestie and Vassilis Charalampopoulos being out due to injuries) played with a lot of heart and succeeded to beat the European Champion CSKA with a 72-59 score!
With superb defense, Nikola Milutinov dominating the post and Kostas Papanikolaou and Wade Baldwin leading the offense, the ‘reds’ built’ a difference of +10 (20-10 at 9’). Olympiacos went on causing problems to the Russians with his defense (it’s only characteristic that they forced the opponent to 15 turnovers in the first half). However, relying on James and Hilliard, the guests succeeded in getting ahead for the first time in the game at 15’ (26-27) and lead by 4p. 928-32) at 18’. The players of Giorgos Bartzokas refused to give up. They put even more pressure in defense and with Brandon Paul and Augustine Rubit succeeded in closing in to on point (33-34) at 20’.
And they didn’t stop there… They continued with even greater passion and focus on their defensive duties, which is apparent by the fact that CSKA only scored 4 pints in the 3rd quarter! During that time, the players of Giorgos Bartzokas – despite missed shots and missed free throws – ‘loaded’ the Russians’ bucket with 21p. and got to build a +16 margin (54-38 at 30’. With the same seminar worthy defense, the ‘reds’ got to get ahead even further (20p., 65-45 at 35’), however, CSKA responded with an 11-0 streak and dropped the difference to 9p (65-56 at 38’). At that point, Antonis Koniaris gave an offensive boost to the obviously tired Olympiacos (a three and 2/2 free throws (68-56), who continued putting … money in defense and it paid off… On the contrary, the team got a huge victory!
The quarters: 20-15, 33-34, 54-38, 72-59.
Οlympiacos (Bartzokas): Baldwin 8 (1), Paul 11 (2 3p., 6 reb., 4 as., 3 st.), Nikolaidis, Κoniaris 5 (1), Μilutinov 11 (12 reb), Vezenkov 2, Papanikolaou 19 (2 3p., 7 reb., 3 as., 5 st., 3 bl.), Rubit 13 (1),Ellis 3 (7 reb, 2 bl.)
CSKA (Ιtoudis): Bolomboi 7 (1), James 20 (2), Strelnieks 3, Voigtman 3 (1), Hackett, Sant Ross 2, Κoufos 4, Hilliard 11 (1) Κourbanov 3 (1), Hines 3, Baker 3.
"The fans expected us to be warriors"
Giorgos Bartzokas had a lot of congratulating to pass: “I would like to congratulate all our team, our fans, the players and the coaches for the win. It was a very important victory under the circumstances. We had to fight for every possession, on both ends of the floor and in any game that’s decided in battling, we had 19 offensive rebounds, 6 blocks, 14 steals and pushed CSKA to 21 turnovers. It’s obvious that in any area we needed to fight, we did so. However, you have to immediately forget what happened. That’s how Euroleague is, it’s a typical second game in a double week. That’s why quality is a little lesser. We had to take down the game rhythm a little bit, give a lot of balls to the low post and facilitate from there. Because as you know, we lost our two main facilitators that play the pick n’ roll. I would like to dedicate this victory to the victims of Gate 7 and wish good luck to Spanoulis, because he’s having surgery”.
When asked to reveal the last thing he told his players before the game and after the win, he said: “I told them it doesn’t matter how many we are. We are here with 9 and Alexandros who is 17 years old. Practically with 8 professionals. I told them that what matters is that we fight for every possession, stay together and play together. The world is expecting us to be warriors. At the end of the game, I only had congratulations for everyone, because we did what we had to do”.
Asked on whether the break is going to help, he replied: “We play again in 15 days and it’s a good amount of time to try to re-enforce our team, in cooperation with the administration, because Vassilis is going to be out and Rochestie as well, but for a month. Especially, since Olympiacos does not have games for the National League, is being built through practice and if you don’t have enough players to make good practices, then you are not going to be playing good games. Practices need to have intensity and quality, that’s how we are going to become a good team by the end of the season. We hope that we are more later on and ready for the game against Villuerbanne".
About the defensive disposition of his players: ”When many players are absent, then you come together. Of course we want to become a better defensive team. We made a very good defensive game tonight, kept CSKA at 4 points in the third quarter. They made a lot of turnovers, but it’s only natural. The matter at hand is the shape of your opponent. For instance, Alba and Zalgiris, to both of whom we lost, had a day when they were shooting absurdly well from the perimeter. I’m not saying we were not responsible for it. Of course we did. However, the day your opponent is having is really important. This is the Euroleague. You need to be consistent”.
Asked on whether he has distinguished players with the developmental league that he thinks can help, he replied: “They are doing a very good job there, but it’s not something to talk about now. At this moment, that team plays the A2 category, they belong to our club, we support it, we watch their games, and they are doing a very good job. They have very good coaches and you can talk with them about it. Right now, we have games with the Euroleague. But you should know, that whoever is coming from that team to help us, does that and more”.
About how many players are going to be acquired, he said: “We are trying to do the best we can with the administration. We have to go after each chance we have to qualify and I assure you that we are going to do it. We need to get unselfish player that are going to help the team become better. We need them to have two elements, to have played for the Euroleague and that they are in good shape”.
When asked to comment that in the absence of Spanoulis, Papanikolaou and Milutinov have stepped up, he said: “As long as Spanoulis is on the team, the team is going to be his. During previous seasons, he had players that could support his genius game. Sometimes, this balance gets disrupted. No one argues that Papanikolaou and Milurinov are at a high level, but we also have to acknowledge that with three coaches changing and with players coming and going, it’s only natural that they are affected. I know how important it is to be somewhere for 2 or 3 years and that everyone knows what your philosophy is”.
When finally asked to talk about the performance by Kostas Papanikolaou, he pointed out: “We had a talk this morning. I told him that he should not be psychologically affected by a missed shot. He’s very emotional. Being a guard forward at 2.06m he has to have a plethoric game. I challenged him a bit, and I’m very happy he did it. Of course it was him, not me”.
"Olympiacos is a huge example"
CSKA’s coach, Dimitris Itoudis, stated: “Congrats to Olympiacos, they were better. They deserve to be congratulated because they fought and believed more. We knew that they would be missing players, but many times, less is more in sports. We did not succeed in changing the chip. I take the responsibility. Still, there’s no excuse, we have to close our mouths, work and become better. Again, congratulations to Olympiacos. We have many faces in our team that have brought many happy moments, not just with titles but also with their performance. Tonight we probably had the smallest PIR ever and that makes me sad. Can we change that? Of course. We have every intention and we are going to do so”.
Asked on whether Olympiacos is a bad … demon for CSKA, he replied: “You can think about any way you want. Olympiacos tonight had strength, commitment, was better at every battle. If you want to be making up stories, no matter what I say, you are going to be making them”.
On whether it’s harder to mentally prepare his team for such particular games, he said: “We have had some bad experiences in previous seasons, against teams that were missing players, Zenit, Lokomotiv Kuban… We have also had absences, let’s not forget about that. I don’t like bringing up excuses. Tonight we did not fight our battles and that is sad. Everything is difficult. What’s easy in life? Olympiacos came out missing players, with young players and fought. A huge example! We suffered a black out in the third quarter, on both ends of the floor. We have had many changes, but we are the European Champions. We gave a lot of battles, we have had a huge loss, that one of Clyburn, but we fought. In the game against Khimki, we fought more than the opponent. We did not fight tonight, I’m clear about it. Olympiacos fought honestly and that’s a huge example for everyone. It has happened to us to be less and still, come together”.