An unprecedented night...
Olympiacos made 1-0 in the quarter final series against Siena, but did it in the most emphatic way judging by the final 89-41.
The players under Dusan Ivkovic were terrific from the beginning to the end of the game and got a historical victory.
Playing amazing defense with Jamon Gordon leading and using offensive pluralism as a weapon, the ‘reds’ ran a 19-0 streak at the beginning and allowed Siena to score at 8’ with a long distance 3-pointer by Nikos Zisis. The “reds” were leading by 38 at the end of the first half and actually ended the game there, with Dusan Ivkovic giving minutes to all his 12 players.
Olympiacos played without Milos Teodosic who suffers from a lower back problem.
Τhe quarters: 24-4, 47-9, 61-22, 89-41.
Per quarter: 24-4, 23-5, 14-13, 28-19
Οlympiacos (Dusan Ivkovic): Papaloukas 3 (1), Νesterovic 9, Spanoulis 11 (1), Bourousis 14 (1), Pelekanos, Μavrokefalides 15, Νielsen 2, Papanikolaou 4,Erceg 10, Κatsivelis 7 (1), Halperin 7 (1), Gordon 7.
Siena (Simone Panigiani): McCalebb 1, Zisis 5 (1), Hairston 10, Carraretto 3 (1), Rakovic, Lavrinovic 12 (1), Κaukenas 4, Ress 1, Akindele, Jaric 2, Stonerook 3, Moss.
DUSAN IVKOVIC: It is very difficult to discuss or analyze such a game. My team had been absolutely ready. I would be happy even if we had won a play-offs game by one point. My players deserve congratulations. It has been only a few times to have had all twelve players play. If you take a look at the total ranking, we scored a 123 to -2. You play to win every game. Apart from a very good first half, we also won the third and fourth quarters. And the best thing for us has been that Katsivelis played in such a physical game and did a very good job. We played modern basketball and we wish to dedicate this performance to the fans. They helped us a lot and we expect them at the second game as well, where we are going to really need them.
It has been just the first out of five games. We expect that the second game will be a totally different one. Siena is one of the most experienced teams in Europe and before McCalebb was injured, they were playing the best basketball in Europe. I respect our rival and their coach. You have to keep in mind the way they crashed Real in Madrid. We start from zero and we have to be really prepared for the second game. We need to be very cautious. We keep on with our work.
Milos wanted to help, but he wasn’t ready. Despite in pain, he came to me in the evening and told me he was ready to help. I answered that we may lose the game, but we cannot lose the player. I don’t know if he’s going to play. I have to talk to the doctors.
SIMONE PIANIGIANI: We knew before the game that Olympiacos was going to play hard from the beginning and would put pressure on the guards. This game tore us apart in the beginning. We hadn’t been ready to resist. A lot of our players played such a game for the first time, in such an atmosphere, against players with such a great experience. However, this wasn’t a reason to stop playing. We missed a lot of shots and the game became a nightmare. We forgot how to play and the reason why we came here. We were nervous; we did not play right not even at the beginning, not at -20, nor at -50. We made a lot of mistakes. This is not the real Siena. You can gain experience with such games, but we cannot stay at that in such a game, at this point.
It is going to be a different game on Thursday. We have to forget what happened tonight, but it will not be easy. This is my job, to try and keep them calm, and make them think only of basketball.
LOUKAS MAVROKEFALIDES: We had not even expected to enter the game so strong. We lacked concentration at the last game against Ilisiakos, maybe the break played a role, but this did not affect us tonight. We remained focused from the first minute and we did not let any margin to Siena to react.
Defense has been the key to our game and all the guys that played gave their best. For sure, Siena is not the team we saw tonight and will try to react. We will continue doing our job and we will prepare the best we can for the second game.
DEMETRIS KATSIVELIS: I tried to be ready when the coach threw me into the game. That’s what I always try to do, even if the coach needs me for a second. This is how everyone on the team thinks.
We remained absolutely focused on the plan we had prepared, both defensively and offensively. Our defense has probably been the best this season. We wish to thank our fans. Their presence has been very important and we hope that the gym will be packed on Thursday as well.
I think that we are not going to change anything with our preparation. We will train as if we won by two.