By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
The Greek “clasico” between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos turned out to be a monologue for the Reds. With a fantastic and highly concetrated performance for the vast majority of the match, the reigning champs beat their arch-rivals 88 – 63.
The holy “trinity:” of Giorgos Printezis (18 points) Matt Lojeski (15 points) and Erick Green (14 points) paced the winners, but the… “hidden” MVP for Olympiacos was arguably Daniel Hackett (9 points, 3 rebounds) who played some insane defenses from the opposing guards to big guys.
For a dissapointing Panathinaikos, Giannis Bourousis dropped 12 points, while James Gist and Chris Singleton added 10 apiece.
Both teams tried to strike from the low post in the beginning of the match, but it was Olympiacos that first established a small 14 – 10 lead, propelled by timely steals which led to easy points on transition. With Daniel Hacket’s entrance the Reds’ game found an extra muscle on both ends, and Panathinaikos needed a difficult step back buzzer beating basket by Nikos Pappas in order to cut its deficit to 23 – 17 at the end of the first quarter.
Panathinaikos tried to heavily utilize Giannis Bourousis on offense, with the Greek center becoming a threat inside the paint, scoring, winning fouls and giving some second chance opportunities to his team. Yet Olympiacos’s attacks worked more than fine, with Ioannis Papapetrou giving his team its first double-digit lead in the match, 32 – 22. The guests reacted with a small 0 – 4 run, but the Reds could not be stopped. When Bourousis went to the bench, the hosts took advantage of the distabilization in their opponents’ offense to once again get a 10 – point lead. Erick Green and Matt Lojeski fired at will, Vassilis Spanoulis dished assists Olympiacos completed the first half ahead in the score 50 – 32 thanks to an impressive 14 – 1 partial score.
With Giorgos Printezis scoring with any way imaginable from mid range, be it with hook shots or with his classic floaters, Olympiacos had no problem preserving its lead during the third period. Chris Singleton and James Gist’s efforts were good enough only to not let their team fall too much behind. Something that would happen, latter in he match…
Five consecutive points by James Feldeine cut the deficit of Panathinaikos to 16 points, 70 – 54 by the beginning of the fourth period, but Papapetrou answered with the same currency to once again put his team ahead with a 20 plus lead. Olympiacos’ determination didn’t allow Panathinaikos to question its dominance in the match with the Reds expanding the difference more and more, even reaching a number of 28 points, 88 – 60.