Olympiacos strike late to down Anadolu Efes 83-65 - Euroleague Recap
Olympiacos started their Euroleague 2011-12 top 16 quest with two disappointing losses. On Wednesday night though, they came back strongly and using a fourth quarter muscle, they overpowered Anadolu Efes 83-65 to collect their first win.
It was an exciting game and apart from the last quarter, which turned the game on its head, Efes were pretty competitive.
The third frame ended with both teams neck to neck at 53 all and the crowd was anticipating a nail biting finish. However it turned out to be one-way traffic only as first Olympiacos rattled a fierce and game changing 11-0 burst to gain command of the game, and then continued attacking in the ensuing passage to hand Efes a mammoth loss.
Olympiacos outscored the opponents 30-12 in the very frame. Olympiacos Coach Dusan Ivkovic was all praise for his team afterwards.
"Olympiacos deserved to win this game, because we played with patience and persistence. Our defence worked the right way and since we allowed Efes Anadolu to score only 12 points in the first quarter, it was a good starting point. We missed some easy shots and this is related to our need for adjusting to the mismatches. But I am happy because we came up big in the last quarter at both ends and took a very important victory. I think that we have only to take benefits and nothing to lose from those games”.
His counterpart, Ufuk Sarica, was naturally disappointed with his team’s loss but seemed satisfied with the overall performance. According to Sarica, his team showed good resolve in the first thirty minutes, but unfortunately, was outclassed in the last 10 minutes of the game.
Vassilis Spanoulis marshalled Olympiacos with a game high 18 points on 3 for 6 from the floor including 2 for 2 from outside the arc and 6-for-10 from the charity stripe while Kostas Sloukas, who scored most of his points in the crucial last quarter, finished with 15 points on 2-for-3 from downtown. Richard Dorsey too chipped in with 10 points.
Olympiacos overall were hot from the long range, dropping 9 for 19 from the range in the 40 minutes.
Stanko Barac led Efes with 14 points and 8 rebounds while Sasha Vujacic, 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, pounded 12 points. Oliver Lafayette and Esteban Batista amassed 11 points each including 10 combined boards between them.
Tags: