Photo: sport24.gr
Victory, even if uneasy, recorded the Olympiakos during their game with Polish team Asseco Prokom Gdynia as part of the Euroleague, which was played in Peace and Friendship stadium in Athens. The result 83-79 was achieved by the hosts with sweat on their foreheads. The white-red team was definitely not in their best form and the guests proved to be a difficult opponent. Although Prokom Gdynia played in top eight of the Euroleague for the first time in their history, they showed a good play, which troubled the hosts. The meeting between the white-reds and the Poles launched their struggle for classification to the quarterfinals of the Euroleague, which will be held in Paris from May 7-9. The two teams will meet again on March 25 (in Athens) and on March 30 (in Poland).
The game began with the guests taking the lead. During the first 10 minutes Olympiakos failed to find a rhythm, a fact which Prokom used so and led with 11-0 during the first four minutes. The hosts had an obvious problem with the attack, a situation further complicated by the strong defense of Prokom. The greatest threats to the white-reds were players Burrell and Woods (former Olympiakos player and now the strongest player in Prokom). Both successfully overcame the defense of the hosts and earned points for their team. Josh Childress was the one who changed the score. The American broke the guests’ defense and caught up in the score. This put a start to a small twist of the game. Linas Kleiza joined the attacks and added some points to Childress’. However, the lucky twist did not last long. It acted as a cold shower for the guests, who after few minutes found their rhythm and regain their lost position. So during the second period Olympiakos again fell into a vicious circle – it could not manage to break through the Polish defense and win points and the white-red tem itself had a loose defense (fact which the guests took advantage of). Prokom proceeded with a strong attack and regained the lead again. During the 17th minute the team led with 32-26. The player who evened the score was Linas Kleiza - during the 19th minute the white-reds caught up with the Poles and brought the score to 35-35. However, even this could not hold the white-reds at the lead long enough. Again, Prokom players took the lead. Teodosich brought the final turning point. The earned by him lead was finally “sealed” by Kleiza. Thus, during the 28th minute the hosts took the lead with 60-51 and took the road to victory (albeit difficult...)
Olympiakos (Panagiotis Yanakis): Papaloukas, Penn, Childress, Vuishich, Burusich, Halperin, Kleiza, Mavrokefalidis, Beverly, Teodosich, Shortsianitis
Asseco Prokom Gdynia (Tomas Pachesazh): Harrington, Logan, Jagla, Lapeta, Szczotka, Varda, Woods, Burrell, Ewing, Hrycaniuk