The derby won
Olympiacos was ready, determined, focused and thus the big winner of the first derby of the year. The Giorgos Bartzokas team edged Panathinaikos 64 – 60 at OAKA and built a solid foundation to winning the first place of the Regular Season.
The ‘reds’ showed what they were after from the start and playing good defense gained control of the game leading by 12 at the end of the first half.
Panathinaikos closed in the third quarter thanks to zone defense, but the Piraeus team quickly found the way to react and maintain a safety lead. In the last quarter and with Panathinaikos shooting 17 free throws in the whole second half against none on behalf of Olympiacos, the difference closed in but not in such a way to cause the Greek and European Champions any anxiety.
The quarters: 14-18, 28-40, 45-54, 60-64
Panathinaikos (Pedoulakis): Shortsanitis 6, Bramos 2, Panko, Maciulis 6 (1), Armstrong, Ukic 10, Lasme 7, Tsartsaris 10 (2), Diamantidis 19 (3 3p, 4as., 5 reb.) Kitchen, Xanthopoulos, Giannopoulos.
Οlympiacos (Bartzokas): Hines 4, Law 5 (1), Antic, Spanoulis 19 (2 3p., 5as,), Perperoglou 12 (2), Dorsey 4, Sloukas, Mavroeidis, Printezis 6 (2), Papanikolaou 9 (1), Mantzaris 5 (1).
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: “The first derby of the season came in very early, when both teams are not yet ready. You can see all kinds of things in these games. We led from the start and never lost that lead. The margin was very wide for a 12-14 points score.
We expected Panthinaikos to react with certain players. Those had been Tsartsaris and Diamantidis and we received two consecutive threes from a pick and pop. There was also something peculiar to stress, Panathinaikos shot 17 free throws in the second half while trailing and we shot none. A victory like that is very important.
These are very difficult games. I experienced this for the first time; everyone knows the kind of mentality you have to have in order to come through OAKA. We are not here to discuss what happened in the beginning with the postponement of the premiere and what would have happened should we had come here following a home Euroleague game. One cannot stand at one game. We have a motivated team and players with a lot of self-esteem. I would also like to pinpoint that should we had been a little more careful in offense; the difference would have been wider at the end. Nevertheless, all opinions are welcome”.
VASSILIS SPANOULIS: The most important thing for me in the game is that we found our roles again, but we also found our team identity again. This, according to my personal opinion, is even more important than the victory we won. This victory and this performance tells us a lot. I think that in a week we proved that if we are focused, if each and every one of us does what he does best, nothing more nothing less, being disciplined, following our plan, keeping our heads down, being down on earth, we can beat any team in Europe. There’s the opposite too, though. If we don’t do what we should, we can be defeated by any team, exactly what happened with Efes. In Istanbul we weren’t focused at all, we weren’t motivated enough; we weren’t thirsty enough, or passionate or tough.
First of all we did’t have any roles in our style of play. All that, things that makes us stand out as a team, was non-existent. I believe, however, that against Panathinaikos we succeeded in doing all of the above in at least a major part.
I am very happy and proud for the team because we indeed managed to react to a very difficult game, having been defeated in just the previous one under a 26 point margin. We did what we had to do in a very short period of time, in only two days. We played a very good game in a tough court, against a great team such as Panathinaikos. I believe we lost quite a few free shots, although we made a good offensive play. We were good in defense, had a good game plan and managed to emerge the winners of a tough encounter”.
For the ups and downs of Olympiacos, he stressed: “When playing such strong games, derbies like that, it’s really very important to start well. That’s because you gain confidence and you build a good psychology, while at the same time you attack your opponent’s psychology. We somehow did not play as well at the end, but it’s still very early in the season to go through a 40 minute game at the same pace. We are still at the beginning. Even for 30 or 35 minutes, you just can’t play basketball at the same pace during that time in the season.
That’s why we have many ups and downs, but this is not the case only for Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, it’s also the case for all the Euroleague teams. It’s still very early and all the teams are working. We are working hard as well. We certainly have to improve these ups and downs we’ve been having, but as I have just said, it’s only reasonable that they are happening since we are at the beginning of the season. The most important thing for me in the game was that we reinvented our roles and our team identity. In my opinion this is even more important than the victory”.
For the future, he stated: “We spoke in the locker rooms and what we keep is the victory, the good reaction we have had and now we immediately want to focus on the very difficult game we play on Thursday against Zalgiris at the Peace and Friendship Stadium. We have a lot of room for improvement to reach the desired level, we are going to work hard and I think that we are going to be in position to deliver 35 to 38 minutes of good basketball”.
As for the defense and managing to restrain Shortsanitis, he said that: “The team tactic had been very good. As for the defense, I don’t need to say anything. The whole world knows and the whole of Europe knows that Panathinaikos relies on Diamantidis and Shortsanitis. They are players to win many fouls, to create, score, but they also take the team to a higher level. They can also create free shots for their team mates and that’s something we paid attention to. Those two are their team’s locomotive and we tried to control this fact as best as possible. I believe we really did a good job mainly with Shortsanitis, we completely cut him off of the game and I generally think that we were very good both in offense and in defense”.
STRATOS PERPEROGLOU: “It’s still very early to say much, since we are only in the second day of the League. However, it’s certainly very important for us to begin the League having beaten Panathinaikos in OAKA. The victory gives us self-confidence and wings to fly in view of what comes next. I think that when we play good in defense we can win any game, any opponent”.
About how he felt in the game: “For sure it had been quite difficult in the beginning of the game. It felt odd and different, but I tried to focus, while I got help on this part from my team mates and my coach in the previous days. We knew what I would have to face. I tried some shots in offense and they got in. But what counts is that we won and we indeed got a very important victory”.
About the defeat against Efes: “The bad performance and the defeat to Efes was a good lesson for us, but we talked and realized we should not stay at that. We should be moving on and improve, just like we did. We should continue in the next games with performances of the likes of the one against Panathinaikos in OAKA”.
About Olympiacos’ defense: “Olympiacos won both the European and the Greek Championship last season playing in a certain way. Olympiacos cannot start the games aiming to score 90 points and receive 85. It’s not in the team’s system. I think that we have the roster, the chemistry and the team that can keep the rival at very low scoring levels. And that point, that is defense, is where we should always be starting from. This is our philosophy”.
KOSTAS PAPANIKOLAOU: It’s a very important victory of our team. We showed character. We showed to be ready for a game that came very early in the season. We should not give dimensions to this victory that just don’t belong to it. And this is because everything will only be decided at the end. We remained focused in defense in the second half, kept the score and the lead.
Panathinaikos struck us at fast break. Some of the guys that kept us leading showed a strong character, like Vassilis (Spanoulis) and Stratos (Perperoglou), they showed their personality at that point. It doesn’t mean anything for us though; everything will be decided at the end.