By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
After five years in Panathinaikos he decided to make the big step to Olympiacos and his first challenge was to play against Caja Laboral with sprained ankle. In any case Stratos Perperoglou was excellent and was the main reason Reds started the season with a win.
He scored 14 points, helped his team in the post game in the 85-81 win and proved to be the more… relaxed among a stressed team. “I felt comfortable since the beginning of the game. The fans welcomed me and I felt like I was part of the team since a lot of years. It’s always hard the first game of the season, especially for the home team. I think we did a good job and we got the big win that we need” commented the Greek forward to Eurohoops.net after the match.
After the first half, Olympiacos had 11 points lead, but everything change quickly in the third quarter. Perperoglou gives his explanation: “Caja is a very good offensive team and they managed to come back in the beginning of the third quarter. We made some turnovers and didn’t defend well. They have a good team, a good coach and they can do very well in the season”.
The next Euroleague game for Olympiacos in Istanbul against Efes Anadolu maybe is harder than the first one, but Perperoglou prefers not to think about it right now: “It’s the beginning of the season. All the games are difficult and we just take one at a time”.