The Reds made life difficult for the visiting team with aggressive half-court pressure.
Ironclad defense steered Olympiacos past misfiring Efes
Article
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 5 of 34
Regular Season
Olympiacos PiraeusOLY
7557
Anadolu Efes IstanbulEFS
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Olympiacos Piraeus eased to a 75-57 home victory over Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Round 5 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, thanks to rock-solid defending which the former champions struggled to cope with from start to finish.
Efes endured a miserable shooting night, having been undone in other key departments too as Olympiacos dished out more assists (21-14) and outrebounded the visitors (39-35), in what turned out to be a lopsided contest. Efes was only able to stand its ground in the first quarter, which Olympiacos won 17-14, as the home team piled the pressure from there on to force the Turkish side into early submission.
"We did a very good job, we came out strong because we knew that Efes is a very talented team," Papanikolaou said in a post-game interview.
"They have a lot of great scorers and are able to create a lot of problems if they get into their rhythm. We were very focused and the result came as everyone did their job. We get our momentum and confidence from defense and hopefully, we will keep going in that direction," he said.
Coach Georgios Bartzokas added: "We were patient in offense and tried to find good looks. But it was the defense that gave us the momentum as we kept Efes down to 57 points. We had three days to prepare this game and this was very important for us amid a tough schedule."
Following a low-scoring first half (33-25), the floodgates opened in the second as Olympiacos started hitting three-pointers and came up with a barrage of layups from a quick transition of the ball. The home team’s hustle forced a barrage of tough perimeter shots at the other end, as Efes made only 8 of 31 three-pointers and 15 of 33 from two-point territory. In contrast, Olympiacos sank 22 of 34 from inside the arc and 8 of 26 from downtown, having also confined Efes to just 4 free throws.
There was no way back for the visitors after Olympiacos opened a 61-43 lead at the end of the third quarter when Alec Peters nailed a buzzer-beating three-pointer.
"A very serious performance from our team as we focused on all the outstanding backcourt players that Efes has," Bartzokas added at the post-game press conference. "We were able to share the ball more in the second half and it’s a win we consider to be very important."
Olympiacos will visit fierce rival Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul in Round 6, the team it knocked out in last season’s playoffs, while Efes is away to Virtus Segafredo Bologna.