November 22, 2009
Countdown
Regular Season Game 8 - December 17, 2008 - PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM
GAME PREVIEW
Olympiacos
vs.
Cibona
Local time: 9:45 PM TV CET: 8:45 PM
Head Coaches
GIANNAKIS, PANAGIOTIS
Olympiacos head coach
"We have to handle the upcoming game properly and accomplish one more victory. This time we will be more ready to face the difficulties that came up in Zagreb. After seven games in the competition, our playing behavior as a team is more stable, while none of us believes that we have the obligation to cover the 9-point deficit of the first match. We just want to play good basketball and try to improve our game against a very good and dangerous team in order to get this win."
PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
Cibona head coach
"We have many things to improve before our game with Olympiacos. They are probably the best team in our Euroleague group, but they are still not certain for winning the first place so they will be really motivated for the game. In Zagreb they did not look as strong as we expected, but they keep rising their level and getting stronger. They have many options in offense and it is really hard to defend them. That does not mean we are going to Athens to surrender. We will try our best to surprise them on their home court."
Players
TEODOSIC, MILOS
Olympiacos guard
"This game will be totally different in comparison to the one we played in Zagreb, but it doesn't mean it will be easy for us. Cibona Zagreb is a good team and they know what they want in the court. They play excellent defense and they always have a plan on offense. If we perform with the same consistency like in our recent games, then we will not have a problem to get what we want from this game."
A share of first place in Group A will be on the line Wednesday when Olympiacos Piraeus hosts Cibona Zagreb. The two teams enter Week 8 in a three-way team with Unicaja for the group lead with 5-2 records, but only one cam remain on top. The Reds have already secured a Top 16 berth as well and Cibona would join them with a win, or a loss by fifth place Air Avellino, which visits Unicaja on Thursday. Cibona bested Olympiacos 85-76 when they met last month in Croatia as Earl Calloway netted 17 and Rawle Marshall added 15. Marshall is coming off his best game yet after scoring 21 points with just a single miss in an 89-70 win over Le Mans. However head coach Velimir Perasovic’s men have not been quite the same on the road as they are at home and have not won outside of the Drazen Petrovic Basketball Center since Week 2. And Cibona has not won in Piraeus since 2004. Meanwhile Olympiacos is perfect at home this far, although head coach Panagiotis Giannakis’s charges are coming off a tough loss at Unicaja. Olympiacos boasts a deep and well-balanced squad that will look to wear down Cibona over the course of 40 minutes. The teams match up well in the backcourts, where Lynn Greer, Yotam Halperin, Milos Teodosic and Theo Papaloukas lead the charge against Davor Kus, Calloway and Branimir Longin. Small forward Josh Childress, who is the only player that Giannakis has started in every game, will be called upon to stop Marshall, while the Reds feature Nikola Vujcic, Ioannis Bourousis, Zoran Erceg, Giorgios Printezis and even Sofoklis Schortsanitis in the froncourt. Cibona counters with Jared Homan, Niksa Prkacin, Luksa Andric and Vedran Vukusic. Olympiacos’s superior size is one reason that it leads the league in rebounding with 36.4 rebounds per game – more than 7 boards per game more than Cibona. The visitors will need to be at their best on the glass to minimize that statistic. The two teams’ respective form at home and on the road makes Olympiacos the clear favorite, the big stakes of this game and Cibona’s ability to rise to the occasion this season could alter that in what could become a 40-minute thriller. And even if the hosts have a comfortable lead near the end, Cibona’s 9-point advantage from the first game could play a role down the stretch.

GAME QUOTES

Olympiacos
  • The last three Euroleague champions - Maccabi, CSKA and Panathinaikos - have lost in Malaga the same season as they won the title. Olympiacos lost there last week.
  • Guard Yotam Halperin needs just 2 more steals to reach 100 for his Euroleague Basketball career.
  • Center Nikola Vujcic needs 5 more points to reach the 2,000-point plateau. Only four players have accomplished that feat to date – Marcus Brown, Luis Scola, J.R. Holden and Jaka Lakovic.
  • Vujcic grew up near Split, Croatia, where he watched current Cibona head coach Velimir Perasovic shine on the great Jugoplastika Split dynasty that won three straight Euroleague titles between 1989 and 1991.
  • Vujcic has played alongside Cibona center Niksa Prkacin many times in their careers. The two grew up together at KK Split and won the 1997 Croatian Cup together. They were also teammates on the Croatian national team at the 1999, 2001 and 2005 European championships.
Cibona
  • Forward Vedran Vukusic has established himself as a dangerous three-point shooter over the past few games. Vukusic started the season going 1 for 8 from behind the arc in his first four games, but has shot 4 for 8 in his last two.
  • Three current Cibona have previous experience in the Greek League and have been opponents of Olympiacos. Davor Kus played for AEK Athens in the 2004-05 season, where he was a teammate of current Olympiacos swingman Michalis Pelekanos. Jared Homan played under current Olympiacos head coach Panagiotis Giannakis at Marousi in the 2005-06 season and Nikola Prkacin suited up for Panathinaikos last year.
  • Center Nikola Prkacin recorded his last Euroleague double double against Olympiacos in December 2004. Prkacin had 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting plus 12 rebounds for Efes Pilsen in a 59-110 rout of the Reds.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Euroleague.net
Stats Comparisions: Teams and players
Team Aver.     Team Leaders Head-to-Head Team Leaders     Team Aver.
81.6 Pts. GREER, LYNN 13.7 Pts. 14.3 MARSHALL, RAWLE Pts. 77.9
55.34 % 2FG% PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS 76.00 % 2FG% 85.71 % TROHA, ROBERT 2FG% 57.02 %
38.24 % 3FG% PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 100.00 % 3FG% 50.00 % PRINC, VEDRAN 3FG% 33.79 %
36.4 Rebounds BOUROUSIS, IOANNIS 7.7 Rebounds 5.1 VUKUSIC, VEDRAN Rebounds 29.1
15.1 Assist. PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS 5.1 Assist. 2.6 CALLOWAY, EARL Assist. 10.0
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