Victory against Unics in the overtime

With an offensive rebound and a bucket by Sasa Vezenkov seconds shy of the buzzer, Olympiacos beat Unics Kazan 91-89 (82-82) and won 3rd place at the "Gomelsky Cup".

The first quarter, with Giorgos Printezis bearing most of the offensive weight for the team, was balanced… Olympiacos got a 4 point lead at 7' (13-17), which however was covered for by Unics Kazan with a partial 6-1 (19-18, at 10'). Balance was maintained up to 15' (23-25) mainly due to bad shooting percentages by both teams… The pressing defense of the Russians continued causing a lot of problems for our team and forced it to turn the ball over multiple times. At the same time, Unics found solutions with Eric McCollum and closed the first half leading 39-33.

Relying on its defense, the Russian team got the difference to +13 (52-39). Olympiacos got to move the ball better when in offense, and led by Zach LeDay and Nigel Williams-Goss tied the game (64-64 at 33' and 74-74 at 28'). But he didn't succeed in getting ahead… The Russians ran a partial 5-0 (79-74 at 39'), however, some good defensive plays and with Williams-Goss spearheading the offense, the 'reds' succeeded in sending the game to prorogation. It was actually the American guard who tied the score 82-82 right before the buzzer.

During the extra five minutes, Giorgos Printezis and Sasa Vezenkov helped our team gain a small lead (86-89), a series of turnovers from both sides followed and Jamar Smith tied the game for Unics 89-89 with 21.9'' to go. Finally, it was Sasa Vezenkov who decided the game with an offensive board and a bucket, hence writing the final 91-89.

* Axel Toupane received a blow on the right hip which caused a hematoma and that's why he did not play in the second half.

"I told them that hope is the last one to die..."

David Blatt stated: "Before I comment on the game, I would like to wish coach Priftis good luck and all the best for the new season. We have worked together and have been friends for many years. It was a joy for me to have the chance to be with him and I'm sure this friendship is going to go on. In regard to the game, I used a famous Russian phrase during the time out. I told them that 'hope is the last one to die". We could not afford to lose hope in a tough situation. We finally succeeded to holding on and winning the game. Both teams are missing players. Especially for us, to be playing at this level without Spanoulis and Papanikolaou and without Toupane in the second half due to injury, is very difficult. Nevertheless, we need to learn to live under similar situations because they are going to come up during the season. I hope that both teams have all their players with them soon for the beginning of the season and that's the most important thing. I made a lot of people unhappy when I said that I don't care about winning or losing friendly games during pre-season".

He then talked about what an honor it is to be at such a tournament dedicated to the memory of Alexander Gomelsky. "It is very special for me to be here. It's something very close to my heart and it means a lot to be here with people from Russia, with all the history we share between us. And especially being here for the tournament in the memory of the great Gomelsky is an honor. It's a warm and special feeling for me, being part of all that history. Olympiacos is proud and honored to be able and pay respects to this great person".

Asked about the performance of Nigel Williams-Goss, he replied: "With my experience as a coach, I would like to say that you should never overreact after a bad game. He's a very important player for us and if he or any other player has a bad game, you shouldn't be reacting in excess. This only shows that you don't believe in the player or that you are not confident about what you've been doing with them. That's the kind of coach I am. And I do believe a lot in Nigel and obviously the way he played most pre-season games, as well as how he played tonight proves why …"
In regard to the misinformation on the condition of Vassilis Spanoulis and Kostas Papanikolaou, he made clear: "About Papanikolaou, I don't what was or wasn't written… I also heard that some wrote yesterday that I said Spanoulis has a heart problem and that's why he did not travel with us. It's false, it's a mistake. I will be using an expression by someone that I'm not really happy with right now, Donald Trump: Fake news. This never happened… I don't even know how all of this is even a thing".

The American guard, Nigel Williams-Goss, stressed: "I'm proud of my team and the way we fought when we were trailing. We were trailing for most part of the game and if we look at the stats, we had more turnovers and they had more rebounds. Many things did not go the way we wanted them to, but we continued fighting and succeeded winning a difficult game".

The coach of Unics Kazan, Dimitris Priftis, stated: It was a very competitive game. It was really hard for the additional reason that it was a back to back game. It was tough for the players of both teams. The result was decided at the end by details. I wish we had won just for the psychology factor. We now have to focus on the real part of our job, the official games that start in three days. This the worst part for us, because we have had some injured players. Some are only just returning to the team and have not gotten into rhythm yet. We have a trip ahead of us, one road game and many things that preoccupy us. We need to rest and focus on the next game. Congratulations to Olympiacos for the win at the end and we wish them all the best for the upcoming season".

Finally, Evgeny Kolesnikov, commented: "The game was decided in the overtime and maybe this is not really fair. We fought to the end, but obviously something did not go well".

The quarters: 19-18, 39-33, 58-53, 82-82

Οlympiacos (Blatt): Williams-Goss 22 (2), Τoliopoulos, Toupane, Τimma 4, Milutinov 1, Strelnieks 6 (1), Vezenkov 7, Printezis 28 (6reb.), Μantzaris 6 (4 as.), LeDay 17.

Unics (Priftis): Sergeev, Ejim 16(2), Lockett 2, Ndour 22, McCollum 7, Ponkrashov 5, Smith 11(1), Koshcheev, Kolesnikov 2, Sheleketo 2, Henry 22, Kaimakoglou