Regular Season Game 1 - October 21, 2009 CET: 18:15 Local time: 19:15 - PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM

Records

Ave.   Ave.
0-0 Final Four 0-0
0-0 Playoffs 0-0
0-0 Top 16 0-0
0-0 Regular Season 0-0
0-0 Overall 0-0

Referees

Crew Chief
MARTIN, JOSE, Spain
Referee
JURAS, MARKO, Serbia
Umpire
CHEBYSHEV, SERGIY, Ukraine

Team Stats

Ave.   Ave.
0 Points 0
0 Rebounds 0
0 O. Rebounds 0
0 D. Rebounds 0
0 Assists 0
0 Steals 0
0 Blocks 0
0 Turnovers 0
0 2PT 0
0 3PT 0
0 FT 0
0 Index 0

Player Stats

Ave.   Ave.
0 Points 0
0 Rebounds 0
0 OR 0
0 DR 0
0 Assists 0
0 Steals 0
0 Blocks 0
0 Turnovers 0
0 2PT 0
0 3PT 0
0 FT 0
0 Index 0

THE TAKE

A new team will be welcomed to the Euroleague on Wednesday when Greek powerhouse Olympiacos hosts Entente Orleanaise Loiret in Group B in what will be the French club’s first game ever in Europe's signature competition. Orleans earned the right to play the 2009-10 Euroleague by surviving the qualifying rounds. Olympiacos comes off a fantastic season in which it reached the Final Four and is looking to do even better this time with an improved roster and even higher ambition. Olympiacos is facing some last-minute injury problems, as Sofoklis Schortsianitis and youngster Kostas Papanikolaou are sidelined with the (a)H1N1 virus. As such, All-Euroleague big men Nikola Vujcic and Ioannis Bourousis are ready to see most minutes around the baskets. The Reds count on Panos Vasilopoulos to offer versatility at power forward and have size, defense and bench depth with Andreas Glyniadakis and Loukas Mavrokefalidis at center. Vasilopoulos seems the right man to guard natural-born mismatch Justin Doellman, a versatile forward who can beat his defender in many ways. Adrien Moerman offers deep range and size while Ludovic Vaty is a good athlete who provides rebounds and mobility. Ryvon Covile will test his post skills against Bourousis and Vujcic. Olympiacos must be ready to stop Laurent Sciarra, a silent leader through his court vision and experience. Sciarra shares the point guard duties with Aldo Curti, an up-tempo playmaker. The Reds are deep at point guard with former Euroleague MVP Theo Papaloukas, physical playmaker Patrick Beverley and Milos Teodosic, who comes off an outstanding EuroBasket 2009, where he led Serbia to the title game against Spain. Cedrick Banks and Austin Nichols are ready to provide the fireworks at both wings for Orleans, with Anthony Dobbins offering defense off the bench. Dobbins may be chosen for the tough mission to stop Josh Childress. Olympiacos has its own firepower with great shooters like Von Wafer, Yotam Halperin and Linas Kleiza. Olympiacos must play up-tempo and take advantage of its deeper bench and experience to maximize its chances of winning. Orleans needs to run its offense through Sciarra and control the game tempo. The combination of experience and home-court advantage makes Olympiacos the heavy favorite, but as Orleans showed in the qualifying rounds, it should never be counted out.

REFEREES: Jose Martín, Marko Juras, Sergey Chebyshev


GAME NOTES

Olympiacos
  • Linas Kleiza, Patrick Beverly, Von Wafer and Kostas Papanikolaou are set to make their respective Euroleague debuts.
  • Center Nikola Vujcic enters the season needing just 15 points to reach the 2,200-point mark for his career. The former All-Euroleague center is currently ranked second on the Euroleague career scoring charts.
  • Vujcic enters the season 8 offensive rebounds behind his former Maccabi teammate Marcus Goree for 10th place on the career offensive rebounding chart. Vujcic currently has 236 career offensive rebounds.
  • Theo Papaloukas is closing in on a spot among the best 20 career scorers in the Euroleague. Papaloukas enters the season with 1,388 points – 28 away from 20th place.
  • Papaloukas, the Euroleague’s career assists leader, needs 8 more assists to reach 750 for his career.
  • Forward Panagiotis Vasilopoulos has an active streak of a blocked shot in seven straight Euroleague games.
Entente Orleanaise
  • Laurent Sciarra returns to the Euroleague for the first time in eight years. Sciarra’s last game in Europe’s premier competition came in April 2001 for Asvel Basket. He scored 11 and dished 7 assists in a quarterfinals loss to CSKA Moscow.
  • Cedrick Banks, Ryvon Covile, Aldo Curti, Anthony Dobbins, Justin Doellman, Adrien Moerman and Austin Nichols are all set to make their respective Euroleague debuts this season.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Euroleague.net

Quotes Head Coaches

GIANNAKIS, PANAGIOTIS
Olympiacos
"We face a team that has athletic skills, tries to create shooting opportunities and plays with a lot of enthusiasm. The key point for my team is to be ready to control the rhythm of the match and not allow our opponents to play the way they are used to. I always have great respect for French teams and given that Entente Orleanaise eliminated Benetton Treviso, this is a reason to respect them a lot. It is the opening game and we are not ready yet either agonistically or mentally. Our first goal in this moment is to have our players thinking with clear minds."
HERVE, PHILIPPE
Entente Orleanaise
"Our first game against Olympiacos will be a very big challenge for us, especially playing on the road. For this, our first-ever participation in the Euroleague championship, everyone in our club and on our team is very excited and we will do our best to make it a big game."

Players

VASILOPOULOS, PANAGIOTIS
Olympiacos
"We don’t know a lot of things about our opponent, but they proved their potential since they eliminated two good teams. Entente Orleanaise has nothing to lose in this game, so they will play without pressure. They came here to play against a team that played in the last Euroleague Final Four, they feel like an underdog and because of this, they are dangerous. We must be serious and focused and drive the match in our path, not only to win, but also to play a good game and satisfy our fans."
MOERMAN, ADRIEN
Entente Orleanaise
"We practiced hard in order to be ready for our first game in the Euroleague. Even if we have to start against such a big team as Olympiacos, we are all excited by this new challenge."
Linas Kleiza - OlympiacosOlympiacos started the new season just as it hoped by pounding Entente Orleanaise 94-72 Wednesday at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus, Greece. Linas Kleiza made a sparkling Euroleague debut with 23 points and 9 rebounds and head coach Panagiotis Giannakis made the most of his deep bench as 10 players played at least 14 minutes in the winning effort. Olympiacos dominated the glass 37-21 and shot 11 for 15 (73.3%) from the paint en route to the win. Josh Childress added 15 for the winners, while Von Wafer came off the bench for 10 in 15 minutes and Nikola Vujcic added 10 in 14 minutes. Ryvon Covile and Austin Nichols paced Orleans with 18 apiece and Cedrick Banks added 14 in defeat. Orleans will host its first ever Euroleague home game next week when it welcomes Lietuvos Rytas. Olympiacos travels to Spain to meet Unicaja.

Both teams needed a possession to work out the jitters before Kleiza drove to open the scoring. Aldo Curti buried a three to get Orleans on the board, but Milos Teodosic answered from downtown and created a steal to ignite the Reds. Childress woke the fans up with a wicked two-handed baseline slam. Covile hit a pair of free throws and Anthony Dobbins scored to keep Orleans close, but Kleiza attacked the rim for a slam to show who was in charge. Teodosic free throws made it 14-7, but Nichols answered back with a basket-plus-foul. Kleiza continued his strong opening quarter with another slam before Banks hit from downtown to bring his team within 18-15 after 10 minutes.

Laurent Sciarra came in for the second period to direct the Orleans attack and dished to Justin Doellman for an open jumper. Theo Papaloukas kept the Reds ahead with a triple, however Nicholas kept Orleans going with a basket inside. Childress cut to the basket for a pretty layup and added a long jumper before Vujcic dropped in a hook shot, causing Orleans to use a timeout to think things over. Still Patrick Beverley nailed a triple to give Olympiacos its first double-digit lead. Ludovic Vaty ended the Orleans drought, but Vujcic stretched the hosts’ lead to 12. Covile threw down a dunk and Nichols drilled a three – both in transition – to narrow the gap to 33-26. Vujcic fed a cutting Kleiza for a basket-plus-foul and then Kleiza banked in a turn-around jumper and made a pair of free throws as the Reds built a 44-30 lead by the halftime break.

Ryvon Covile - Entente OrleanaiseWafer attacked the basket for his first career Euroleague points to open the second half, but Covile countered with a slam at the other end. Olympiacos was just getting into a rhythm as Kleiza scored twice and Wafer nailed a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 20. Covile scored for the visitors on the offensive glass, but Panos Vasilopoulos set Ioannis Bourousis up for an alley-oop slam. Covile and Curti continued to fight for Orleans, but it was showtime for the home side as Vujcic delivered a behind-the-back pass to Childress for a basket inside. Curti hit a long jumper and Nichols made 2 free throws to get within 14, but Wafer continued to fuel the Reds’ attack with a drive for a layup-plus-foul. Vujcic's second-chance basket restored a 20-point advantage though slams by Doellman and Covile helped make it 66-49 at the end of the third.

Yotam Halperin fed Kleiza for an easy basket and then finished a fast break himself as the Reds looked to ice the game. Doellman hit back with a jumper, but Kleiza made his way to the line to add to his scoring tally. Banks hit a three only for Andreas Glyniadakis and Kleiza to give Olympiacos its largest lead, 77-54. Nichols and Doellman stepped up as Orleans scored the game’s next seven points, however it was too late for Orleans. Threes by Halperin and Vasilopoulos sealed the game with several minutes to play as Olympiacos celebrated another fine start to the Euroleague season.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Euroleague.net
Referees: MARTIN, JOSE (ESP), JURAS, MARKO (SRB), CHEBYSHEV, SERGIY (UKR)
Attendance: 7000
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos18262228
Entente Orleanaise15151923
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos18446694
Entente Orleanaise15304972
Head coach: GIANNAKIS, PANAGIOTIS
Olympiacos
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
3FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
4 PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS 14:05 5 1/1 1/1     2 2 4         1 1 11
6 CHILDRESS, JOSH 28:25 15 7/9 0/3 1/1 1 1 2 2   2 1   2 2 13
7 VUJCIC, NIKOLA 13:57 10 3/4 0/1 4/6 1 1 2 2   2   1 1 3 9
9 BOUROUSIS, IOANNIS 17:57 2 1/2   0/2 2 6 8 2 2 2     3 2 8
10 HALPERIN, YOTAM 14:32 5 1/1 1/1   1 1 2 1     1       9
11 KLEIZA, LINAS 23:15 23 9/11 0/3 5/5 1 8 9   1 2       5 31
13 VASILOPOULOS, PANAGIOTIS 23:23 6 0/1 2/3     1 1 3 2 3     4 3 6
14 GLYNIADAKIS, ANDREAS 8:06 4 2/3       2 2     2     3    
17 BEVERLEY, PATRICK 19:01 6 0/1 1/1 3/4   3 3 3   2 1   3 2 8
18 TEODOSIC, MILOS 16:11 7 1/1 1/1 2/2       1 1 1       2 10
19 SLOUKAS, KOSTAS 5:23 1   0/1 1/2 1   1         1   1  
24 WAFER, VON 15:45 10 3/5   4/5   2 2   1 2   1 1 3 9
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 94 28/39 6/15 20/27 9 28 37 18 7 18 3 3 18 24 117
71.8% 40% 74.1%
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Head coach: HERVE, PHILIPPE
Entente Orleanaise
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
3FG
M-A
FT
M-A
Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
4 BANKS, CEDRICK 26:12 14 2/9 3/5 1/1   5 5 1 3 1 1 2 3 3 12
5 COVILE, RYVON 25:49 18 8/10   2/2 4 2 6     2     1 3 22
7 DOELLMAN, JUSTIN 26:10 8 3/5 0/5 2/2   3 3   2 2 1   4 1 2
9 CASSEUS, JOHWE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 CURTI, ALDO 21:23 9 2/2 1/3 2/4       4   3     3 4 7
11 NICHOLS, AUSTIN 30:52 18 5/12 1/3 5/7   1 1   1 4   1 3 5 6
14 VATY, LUDOVIC 14:11 3 1/4   1/2 1   1     1     4 2 -3
15 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 14:54     0/1     1 1     1 1   2   -2
16 SCIARRA, LAURENT 18:37               3         1   2
17 DOBBINS, ANTHONY 21:52 2 1/3 0/2   1 1 2 2 1 1     3   -1
18 SADIKU, ELIO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           2   2               2
Totals 200:00 72 22/45 5/19 13/18 8 13 21 10 7 15 3 3 24 18 47
48.9% 26.3% 72.2%
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

GIANNAKIS, PANAGIOTIS
Olympiacos
"We played a game infront of our fans for the first time in several months and that feels nice. I think that the crowd enjoyed some good plays. We will keep working to improve. We had as a team both in offense and defense. All players in our roster will contribute during the season. Kostas Papanikolaou and Sofoklis Schortsianitis are recovering perfectly and will be with us again very soon."
HERVE, PHILIPPE
Entente Orleanaise
"It was a bad game for us. We faced Olympiacos, a team that aims for the Euroleague Final Four, one of the very best in Europe. We did not play well, our defense was weak against a team that plays with high intensity, especially in defense."

Players

BEVERLEY, PATRICK
Olympiacos
"It was our first official game this season and I think we had a good performance in general terms. Our team is really deep and every player coming off the bench can step in and contribute. There is a lot of room for improvement and there are certain areas of the game in which we are working hard to get better. When the new players, such as I am, catch up with the old ones, the team will work perfectly."
NICHOLS, AUSTIN
Entente Orleanaise
"We knew Olympiacos is a very good team and had a difficult job. This was our first Euroleague game and we had the first sense of intensity at the highest basketball level. We feel that we can play better in all areas, especially to compete for each and every posession. We are an ambitious team and are here to give whatever it takes to earn a Top 16 spot."
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