By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With the score 76 – 76 and 26 seconds left in the clash between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, Kostas Papanikolaou rushed to foul Nick Calathes far from the basket, knowing that he would sent him to the free throw line.
The Greek guard made 1/2, allowing his opponents more options on offense, which Olympiacos took advantage of with the Spanoulis-Printezis’ game winning connection.
This was planned and 100% intentional, as Giannis Sfairopoulos, the Reds’ head coach, explained during the post-game press conference.
“There was an order to foul Calathes because he has a low percentage in free throws. But the fact that we didn’t have a timeout so we couldn’t react was most important. By fouling him we had a time to react, and we did that,” he said.
Sfairopoulos added that: “Of course, we had the toughness at the end to win the game. I believe that we deserved the win because during most of the game we were up, we controlled the game. For sure Panathinaikos is a very good team. They reacted. They got a small lead, but at that moment, we showed character, and that was the most important thing to win the game. We have a great roster and this is what I am saying from the beginning of the season: I trust all my players and I want all of them, as much as they will play, to give their maximum for the team.”