May 24, 2012
Olympiacos goes down with a fight in Cleveland
Ioannis Bourousis versus Zydrunas IlgauskasOlympiacos wrapped up the Euroleague American Tour '09 on Tuesday with a hard-fought 111-94 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, USA. The Reds hung with Cleveland for the first 12-plus minutes before the hosts, led by Olympic gold medalist LeBron James, star center Shaquille O'Neal and a number of former Euroleague players including two-time MVP Anthony Parker, pieced together an 11-0 run en route to a 60-44 halftime edge. Olympiacos trailed by as many as 30 before cutting that deficit in half with a strong finish. Head coach Panagiotis Giannakis's men now return home to Greece to prepare for the start of their Euroleague campaign in 10 days.

"It was a great experience, a great honor," Giannakis summed up afterwards. “We want to play against the best teams. I think we tried hard the whole game and we learned many things… It's a different type of game, here in the States. Sometimes, the rules are difficult to adjust to so quickly between two games. Traveling both worlds of basketball, we’re getting better."

Daniel Gibson was Cleveland's top scorer with 15 points, former Euroleague champ Anderson Varejao posted 13 points and 8 rebounds, LeBron and Shaq netted 12 apiece and Parker scored 10 among seven Cleveland scorers in double figures.

The game featured the first meeting between Olympiacos big man Sofoklis Schortsanitis, who has been dubbed "Baby Shaq," and the original. "I saw him play in the Olympics and he is a fabulous kid," O’Neal said. "We had the chance to talk and he is a great guy and plays hard. I really appreciate and enjoy big guys like that [who] play hard and just play their game. He's sort of a true big man; he’s not going to shoot the jumper. The only things that he does are pick and roll, dunk and jump hook. That’s how a big man should be."

"It was a great honor," Schortsanitis said of the matchup with O'Neal. "I grew up watching Shaq, so it was great, but he's an absolute power. I mean, I thought I was strong, but he's strong. I really enjoyed it."

Josh Childress and Linas Kleiza each scored 16 for the Reds, Yotam Halperin produced 14 points and 5 assists, Patrick Beverley scored 11 and Theo Papaloukas dished 7 assists.

The Reds matched Cleveland in the opening minutes as Kleiza’s hot hand was equal to O’Neal and Varejao. When James and Parker got involved in the scoring, the hosts quickly jumped to a 17-8 advantage. Childress got involved with a pair of three-pointers and when Beverley scored in the final seconds of the first quarter, Olympiacos rallied back to 31-25. Papaloukas’s dish to Ioannais Bourousis for a slam cut the gap to 4 at the start of the second quarter, but Zydrunas Ilgauskas’s three-point play shifted the momentum back to Cleveland. Former Barcelona guard Andre Barrett and ex-Joventut swingman Coby Karl fueled Cleveland as the lead reached double figures. The Papaloukas-to-Schortsanitis connection resulted in a pair of impressive baskets in the paint, however Shaq and Darnell Jackson were able to match the Reds basket for basket. LeBron’s fast break slam and assist to O'Neal for an alley-oop made it 60-44 by the halftime break.

Parker and Varejao shined early in the third quarter as Cleveland resumed its control. Varejao netted 4 free throws and Gibson drilled a three in an 11-0 run that made it 76-48. Kleiza stepped up for Olympiacos only for J.J. Hickson to soon take the Cleveland lead to 30. Halperin and Nikola Vujcic teamed to get the Reds back to 90-65 at the end of the quarter. A pair of baskets by teenager Kostas Papanikolou and a Panos Vasilopoulos triple further narrowed the gap to 20, but Gibson and Ilgauskas responded for Cleveland. Olympiacos rallied to within 15 with two minutes remaining as Halperin, Vasilopoulos and Papanikolou connected from downtown, but time was running out and Cleveland was able to close out the win.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Rigas Dardalis, Cleveland
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