Top 16 Game 6 - March 20, 2008 CET: 19:00 Local time: 20:00 - PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM

Records

Ave.   Ave.
0-0 Final Four 0-0
0-0 Playoffs 0-0
3-2 Top 16 3-2
7-7 Regular Season 11-3
10-9 Overall 14-5

Referees

Crew Chief
JUNGEBRAND, CARL, Finland
Referee
BELOSEVIC, ILIJA, Serbia
Umpire
RYZHYK, BORYS, Ukraine

Team Stats

Ave.   Ave.
81.9 Points 82.3
32.9 Rebounds 32.0
9.2 O. Rebounds 11.2
23.7 D. Rebounds 20.8
13.0 Assists 14.4
8.3 Steals 10.1
2.7 Blocks 2.1
13.7 Turnovers 13.1
53.2 % 2PT 51.0 %
35.9 % 3PT 39.9 %
83.0 % FT 71.9 %
88.7 Index 90.6

Player Stats

Ave.   Ave.
15.5 / JACKSON, MARC Points 13.9 / BULLOCK, LOUIS
6.2 / JACKSON, MARC Rebounds 7.2 / Reyes
2.3 / JACKSON, MARC OR 2.8 / Hervelle
3.9 / JACKSON, MARC DR 4.6 / Reyes
3.4 / Greer Assists 2.7 / Tunceri
1.5 / Greer Steals 1.6 / SMITH, CHARLES
1.2 / Bourousis Blocks 0.4 / Reyes
2.6 / JACKSON, MARC Turnovers 2.2 / Reyes
64.3 % / Vasileiadis 2PT 60.9 % / Mumbru
44.7 % / Vasileiadis 3PT 51.1 % / BULLOCK, LOUIS
100.0 % / Vasileiadis FT 93.1 % / Lopez
17.5 / JACKSON, MARC Index 16.3 / Reyes

THE TAKE

Olympiacos Piraeus hosts Real Madrid on Thursday at the Peace and Friendship Arena in a do-or-die battle for a spot in the Quarterfinal Playoffs. The two teams come into the game tied for the best record in Group F at 3-2, but neither can surpass Maccabi Elite, also 3-2, on tiebreakers if Maccabi beats Zalgiris at home in the group’s other game. Accordingly, if Maccabi wins, the winner of this game will advance to the playoffs from second place and face CSKA Moscow in the quarterfinals and if Maccabi loses, the winner of this game will win Group F and have home-court advantage for the best-of-three quarterfinals. Madrid had sole possession of first place until losing a heart-breaking overtime decision at home to Maccabi last week in overtime. On the other hand, Olympiacos has now won three in a row after losing its first two games of the Top 16. Madrid topped Olympiacos 80-70 in Spain when they met last month behind 16 points from Alex Mumbru. The Reds are a different team since then, improving their defense under head coach Panagiotis Giannakis. Last week his team held a high-scoring Zalgiris team to 52 points. However Madrid has scored the fourth most points in the Top 16. One secret to the Spanish champs’ success has been great ball control: Madrid has committed the fewest turnovers in the Top 16 – 11 per game – but is third in assists with 16 per game. Meanwhile Olympiacos’s offense has been sub par in the Top 16, but guard Lynn Greer has been the best player in the Top 16, winning at least a share of weekly MVP honors twice, leading the Top 16 in scoring and ranking among the top 10 in assists, steals and fouls drawn. In addition to Greer, center Marc Jackson has been effective inside, while forwards Qyntel Woods, Ioannis Bourousis, Girgios Printezis and Kostas Vasiliadis have all played key roles. Madrid matches up well with a deep roster led by scorers Louis Bullock and Charles Smith, forwards Felipe Reyes and Axel Hervelle and center Lazaros Papadopoulos. Between Papadopoulos and forward Michalis Pelekanos, who are both Greek, and big man Blagota Sekulic and Smith, who both have played for Greek clubs, Madrid should be well prepared for the atmosphere in Piraeus, where Olympiacos has gone 7-2 in Euroleague action this season. The tension will be high on Thursday in what promises to be a true battle between two teams that have Final Four aspirations and do not want to go home yet.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Euroleague.net

Quotes Head Coaches

GIANNAKIS, PANAGIOTIS
Olympiacos
"We have one more tough game against a team that knows how to prepare for these kind of games. We know they will come very concentrated and ready, so there must be patience by all of us; by the fans who will fill the arena and by our players, in order to beat a team that has been created to win the Euroleague. The patience of our fans in addition to the rhythm of the game and the control of turnovers and rebounds are going to be the keys for us."
PLAZA, JOAN
Real Madrid
"We have a difficult game ahead of us in which they have the advantage of playing at home, but we will try to fight until the end and deserve the win to advance to the next round. We will have a tough atmosphere against us and that will make it much more difficult for us. Anyway, we have to show that we can beat anyone on the road. Olympiacos is getting used to Giannakis, a great coach who is shaping the team into his philosophy with the style that he likes. I am sure that in the short term his team will show results of the great work he is doing."

Players

GREER, LYNN
Olympiacos
"We are used to playing a 'final' every week and we have been quite good so far. We hope to make it one more time against a team with such big plans in the Euroleague. Real Madrid wants to participate in the Final Four more than any other team and to accomplish that goal, they have to pass our obstacle. Meanwhile, we want to get there as well and we have a great advantage. We will play in front of 12.000 fans and we know what to do to win this battle. Don't forget that we proved we can beat Real Madrid in the first round."
SEKULIC, BLAGOTA
Real Madrid
"Well, we have the most important game of the season so far in front of us. It will not only be hard because we are playing in Greece against Olympiacos, but also because of the bare meaning of its outcome. We both need the win in order to survive and that's why I think it will be an exciting showdown filled with drama. Playing on the road is always hard but here it will be worse, with a packed arena behind their team. However, we must forget about all that and focus on our game. Olympiacos is a great team with good americans which is improving day by day after the arrival of Giannakis to the bench."
Panagiotis Vasilopoulos - Olympiacos Olympiacos is headed to the Quarterfinal Playoffs! The Reds downed Real Madrid 72-63 at the end of an intense battle in front of a sold-out crowd at the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Thursday night to wrap up second place in Group F and a playoff matchup with last season’s runner-up, CSKA Moscow. In a game that was closer than the final score would indicate, Arvydas Macijauskas returned from injury to join Ioannis Bouroussis and Rod Blakney in scoring crucial fourth-quarter points as Olympiacos held off Madrid and eliminated the powerful team that was expected to compete for the title at the Final Four in its own city in May. Panagiotis Vassilopoulos led the Reds with 14 points and 6 rebounds, Milos Teodosic added 12 and the Top 16’s top scorer Lynn Greer and Qyntel Woods netted 9 apiece. Raul Lopez led Madrid with 16, Axel scored 12 and Louis Bullock 10. It was a special night for Olympiacos fans from the start as the heroes from the Olympiacos team that won the 1997 Euroleague title, Giorgos Siagalas, Panagiotis Fassoulas, Milan Tomic and coach Dusan Ivkovic were honored by Euroleague Basketball before the tip-off.

Both teams started the game with excellent passing games, creating inside baskets for Blagota Sekulic, Kerem Tunceri and Felipe Reyes that brought Real Madrid to 6-5, but immediately Vassilopoulos netted the three-pointer and dished to Bouroussis for a 10-6 Olympiacos lead. Alex Mumbru and Lopez tied it for the guests at 10-10. Both sides then missed some opportunities as the score remained unaltered before Qyntel Woods drove to the basket for a nice fade-away to make it 12-10. Woods was not finished yet and he stole the ball and smoothly ran from coast-to-coast for an easy layup before nailing a corner triple to get the crowd really noisy. However, Madrid reacted within seconds as Bullock and Lopez recorded back-to-back triples to allow Real stay as close as 17-16. Giorgos Printezis connected at the shot-clock buzzer and Sekulic found room for easy points as the score stood at 19-18 in favor of the hosts after one quarter.

Raul Lopez - Real MadridBullock and Marc Jackson exchanged triples, while the latter added a nice hook shot later on to help Olympiacos to 24-21. The hosts were now pressing on the perimeter and forcing Real to some bad decision making. Meanwhile a three-pointer by Teodosic capped an 8-0 spurt that made it 27-21. Hervelle tipped the ball in and Michalis Pelekanos created room for a drive to break Madrid’s scoring silence. The visitors were now putting the ball in the paint trying to take advantage of Lazaros Papadopoulos’s presence on court. Indeed Papadopoulos scored with a trademark pivot move to make it 29-27. Greer and Vassilopoulos connected from inside to increase Olympiacos’s difference to 33-27. Points from the line by Bullock cut it to 33-29 as both teams went to the lockers for halftime.

The third period opened in the same fashion as the previous; Madrid and Olympiacos sank one three-pointer each coming from Mumbru and Bouroussis, respectively. Vassilopoulos nailed another triple, but the guests found points from the line before consecutive baskets from Hervelle evened the score at 39-39. Bullock scored from the line after a technical foul and when Lopez fired in a triple, Real finished an incredible 0-10 run to sail in front 39-44. Bouroussis offered a superb shot-block to Hervelle’s effort and Vassilopoulos stepped up on the offensive end for Olympiacos for two baskets to trim it to 43-44. When Greer drove the base line for a nice off-the-glass layup, Olympiacos had recaptured the lead at 47-46. Papadopoulos netted 1 from the free-throw line to tie it, but Teodosic had the quarter’s last word with a jumper for a 49-47 Olympiacos lead.

Qyntel Woods - OlympiacosA difficult lay-up by Charles Smith tied it at 49-49 and soon Papadopoulos scored on an offensive boards for a 49-51 Madrid lead. Teodosic stepped up for a big triple to make it 52-51 in favor of Olympiacos again. Both teams were now playing incredible defense to force to shots under extreme pressure and nearly to the shot-clock buzzer as the score was stuck for more than two minutes. Macijauskas stepped on the floor after his long absence to run for a good basket-plus-free throw for a 55-51 Olympiacos lead and allow the fans go crazy in the stands. Jake Tsakalidis was fed inside to increase it to 57-51 less than five minutes to the end. With just 2 seconds before the shot-clock sounded, Bouroussis bombed in a huge off-the-glass triple to make it 60-51 for the Reds, 3:30 to the end. Real was struggling to get connected before Hervelle sank 2 from the line and Lopez fired in a three-pointer to allow the guests stay in the game at 60-56. Blakney nailed a jumper for 62-56 and Greer was accurate from the charity stripe to make it 64-56 as Olympiacos was now the boss with less than a minute remaining. Blakney added a couple of free throws, too, and the fans were already loudly celebrating the Reds qualification to the Euroleague Quarterfinal Playoffs.

Thursday, March 20, 2008
Stelios Kyriakoglou, Athens
Referees: JUNGEBRAND, CARL (FIN), BELOSEVIC, ILIJA (SRB), RYZHYK, BORYS (UKR)
Attendance: 12000
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos19141623
Real Madrid18111816
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos19334972
Real Madrid18294763
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 BLAKNEY, RODERICK 21:09 4 1/1 0/2 2/2       2 1       3 1 3
6 WOODS, QYNTEL 20:14 9 3/4 1/4   2 2 4 1 2 2         10
7 MACIJAUSKAS, ARVYDAS 5:56 4 1/1   2/3   1 1     1     2 2 3
9 BOUROUSIS, IOANNIS 18:38 8 1/2 2/3 0/2 1 2 3       1   1 1 8
10 TSAKALIDIS, JAKE 11:55 2 1/2       4 4       1   2 1 5
11 GREER, LYNN 30:17 9 2/6 1/4 2/2   4 4 3   2   2 2 6 9
13 VASILOPOULOS, PANAGIOTIS 31:03 14 4/7 2/4   1 5 6 2 2   2   3 1 19
14 VASILEIADIS, KOSTAS 4:22     0/1                       -1
16 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 20:34 3 1/5   1/2 3 1 4 2 1   1   2 2 6
17 KAFKIS, PANAGIOTIS 3:38           2 2           3   -1
18 TEODOSIC, MILOS 19:28 12 1/1 2/2 4/4   1 1 2   2     2 6 17
25 JACKSON, MARC 12:46 7 2/4 1/2   1 2 3   1 1     3   4
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 72 17/33 9/22 11/15 9 26 35 12 7 8 5 2 23 20 85
51.5% 40.9% 73.3%
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: PLAZA, JOAN
Real Madrid
# 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
5 PELEKANOS, MICHALIS 13:55 2 1/3     1 5 6   1 1   1 1   4
7 SMITH, CHARLES 13:27 2 1/3 0/2                   3 1 -4
8 SEKULIC, BLAGOTA 17:32 4 2/2       3 3     2     1   4
9 REYES, FELIPE 22:57 5 1/4   3/4 1 4 5   1   1   3 3 8
14 PAPADOPOULOS, LAZAROS 16:35 7 3/6   1/4 1 2 3         1   5 8
15 MUMBRU, ALEX 22:50 5 1/3 1/3   3 2 5 3   3       1 7
17 HERVELLE, AXEL 22:12 12 4/7   4/6 5 1 6 1   1 1 2 3 4 13
18 ITURBE, IKER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 TUNCERI, KEREM 16:41   0/1 0/4         1 1 2     3 2 -6
22 BULLOCK, LOUIS 26:58 10 0/1 2/6 4/4 1 2 3 1       1 3 3 8
23 LLULL, SERGIO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
24 LOPEZ, RAUL 26:53 16 2/4 3/7 3/4 1 2 3 4   1     3 3 15
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 63 15/34 6/22 15/22 13 22 35 10 3 10 2 5 20 22 58
44.1% 27.3% 68.2%
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

GIANNAKIS, PANAGIOTIS
Olympiacos
"We started the Top 16 with some crucial mistakes against Maccabi at home. However, we rolled on for some good away wins. We believe in my guys and in the efforts we give in practice and in the game. We now will try to knock out CSKA, a team that is built to win it all the way. We don't fly in the sky because of this win and our qualification. We still need to be patient and time will be on our side."
PLAZA, JOAN
Real Madrid
"Congratulations to Olympiacos. I think they weren't better overall, but they were better in particular moments. They also were lucky in some cases, such us the triple off the glass that Bouroussis made; that proved to be a critical moment. Apart from that, I am happy and proud for my players. We learned much from this Euroleague season. We will keep on developing as a team. Experience is something we gained from the season in the Euroleague. I wish good luck to Olympiacos."

Players

MACIJAUSKAS, ARVYDAS
Olympiacos
"I felt ready to play for two weeks already. When coach Giannakis ordered me to come on the floor, I felt confident. Especially in the crucial seconds, I always have trust to myself. Tonight, we knocked out the team whose city will host the Final Four. Everybody understands how important this is."
VASILOPOULOS, PANAGIOTIS
Olympiacos
"I am happy we made it to the quarterfinals. The two away wins we made were the key to our success. These two road wins changed our morale and made us believe that we can make it. Tonight, we managed to keep our concentration for 40 minutes and prevent Real Madrid from keeping us out of our rhythm. I think we proved we wanted it more. When Macas scored the basket-plus-foul, I said to him: 'Welcome back.' He really offers much help to the team and when Sofo comes back the team, we will become even stronger. It's too early to speak about the games against CSKA. I know they are improving too as Smodis came back now. We will see."
BOUROUSIS, IOANNIS
Olympiacos
"After starting the Top 16 with two straight losses, nobody believed we could make it to the quarterfinals. But, with hard work and patience, we made it. Everybody put himself in the service of the team. Our fans built a great atmosphere tonight and they really offered big-time support. The games against CSKA will be a different story. I think we are the outsiders in the series."
REYES, FELIPE
Real Madrid
"We knew it was tough to come at Olympiacos's home court and win. We didn't play our worst game, but not our best either. That was not enough to qualify to the quarterfinals. We managed to stay always close and went ahead in the third period. However, we didn't believe in the victory as much as Olympiacos did."
PAPADOPOULOS, LAZAROS
Real Madrid
"We didn't have a good game tonight. We had the chance, but it simply didn't happen. Olympiacos managed to hold the score at a low level and had better decision making on offense. Life is not over, though. That's sports and basketball. Both teams can't win. We have to focus on the Spanish League now, where three difficult games follow. I hope Olympiacos will travel to Madrid for the Final Four."
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