By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
How can you measure what Olympiacos did in Istanbul; There are many ways to see how the upset against CSKA rocked the basketball world, but the applause of 500 Panathinaikos fans inside them “Sinan Erdem” Arena the moment that the Reds were lifting the trophy is a sign of its transcending effect.
Ilias Zouros, the coach of the national Greek team and Anadolu Efes of Turkey, was present in that moment and he told us his view: “It’s a huge success for Greek basketball in general. Of course it could be even greater if we had a Euroleague Final with two Greek teams, but you can’t have it all. Olympiacos deserved the title. He completed a miracle come back and the great think about it is that young Greek players did it. They never gave up, they got heart and finally they won the title. The end of the game was thrilling. What Olympiacos did was to play great defense and generally speaking that’s how you win games. They kept CSKA scoring low, because for the bulk of the game Olympiacos points were scored just by three players. Their defense produced scoring opportunities for other players, the team loosen up and won the title. It’s a good start for this team and I am more than happy because Greek basketball showcased once again its strength, because the Euroleague champion is a Greek team and because there were two Greek teams in the Final Four”.
It was a nice mental break for Zouros, who during the Final Four was preparing Efes for the Turkish league play offs. As he explains: “We start the semifinals on Wednesday at the court of Banvit and we want to qualify to the Finals. If we work like we should, then we will win the title. This is the most important thing for me now”. And after that, there are no vacations for Zouros, because he will start the preparation of the Greek national team for the FIBA preolympic tournament in Venezuela (2/7-8/7). He has of course to announce his pre-selection roster and chances are that what happened in the court of “Sinan Erdem” helped him decide…