Final rehearsal...
Olympiacos made 11/11 and keeps going on. With Giannis Bourousis as his top player, who has come back after his lower back injury and Panagiotis Vassilopoulos stepping on the court for a game after seven months and one day, the “reds” edged Kavala 81 -60.
The “reds” played excellent defense in the first half of the game, while in the beginning of the second half, the led by 25 points (53-28) before the slowed down and gave Kavala the right to come as close as to 13 points (53-40). However, the players under Dusan Ivkovic found their game in the last minutes and reached an easy victory.
The negative incident of the game has been the injury of Marko Keselj at the 2nd minute of the game. The Serb forward suffered a sprain and was about to make all necessary tests to assess the extent of the damage with his participation in the Wednesday game being extremely doubtful.
Τhe quarters: 24-10, 43-24, 60-45, 81-60
Οlympiacos (Ivkovic): Papaloukas 9, Nesterovic 6, Gordon 7,Spanoulis 3, Vassilopoulos 4 (1), Bourousis 19 (3), Keselj 3 (1), Mavrokefalides 7, Halperin 8 (2), Papanikolaou 5, Erceg 7, Teodosic 3 (1)
Kavala (Priftes): McIntosh 4, Palacio 12 (1), Kostov 1, Huff 4, Papanikolaou 3, Simmons 6, Georgakis 4, Jorovic 18 (3), Karapostolou, Angelopoulos 8
The protagonists…
Dusan Ivkovic did not only speak about the game against Kavala in the Press Conference that followed…
KAVALA: We did not have the required concentration for 40 minutes and I did not like that. We slowed down a lot in the third quarter and we lost the partial score. I don’t really understand the game we played. Our game was balanced in the first half. Not in the second one. We tried a lot of three pointers and we did not take the ball into the post.
PANAGIOTIS VASSILOPOULOS: We had the chance to give minutes to Vassilopoulos who has worked hard all that time. The team slowed down when he came in, but he was very good himself. He gave the team a lot of energy. I believe he’s going to be ready to play more in the Euroleague TOP-16.
ΜILOS TEODOSIC: Milos’ game has nothing to do with the derby. He can play better for sure.
DERBY: I’m going to prepare the players to play an easy game. It’s the easiest game up to now for Olympiacos. We are going to be complete. Panathinaikos has the home court advantage and the pressure. Should we be playing in the Peace and Friendship Stadium, it would be a whole different story. I haven’t given any thought to Panathinaikos. Tomorrow there’s going to be the first practice in view of the derby.
VASSILIS SPANOULIS: Spanoulis knows why he changed teams and this is going to be his first derby against his former team. I can prepare him psychologically.
ΜATT NIELSEN: Nielsen will be helping us a lot till the end of the season. I don’t know if he’s going to play the derby.
PANAGIOTIS VASSILOPOULOS: “I haven’t realized how much time has gone by. We had been very anxious for me to play. I feel very well and I’m happy for that. We wanted to play strong, run and make easy baskets. We made a bad third quarter and gave Kavala the chance to come close. We have to limit our mistakes. We are going to work hard in the last three days that remain before the game against Panathinaikos. The game against Panathinaikos is a game like all the others. They are among the best teams in Europe; I hope we don’t face any injuries”.
DEMETRES PRIFTES: “We are self – aware and we know where we came to play. We are not used to playing every three days. We gave minutes to all the players to keep them fresh. Difficult games are coming up and I think we made good use of that game. I wish for a good and civilized game on Wednesday between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos”.
CHRISTOS PAPANIKOLAOU: “It has been a tough test for us and we did well. There are some very tough games coming up for us and we should improve. I hope we do better next. I wish the best for Panagiotis Vassilopoulos who has come back healthy”.