By Eurohoops Team / info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos Piraeus managed to defeat Real Madrid in overtime and improve its record to 9-2. Coach Sfairopoulos and coach Lasso shared their thoughts on the game.
Real Madrid‘s coach commented on his team, Olympiacos‘ toughness but also his feelings about the game: “Congratulations to Olympiacos for the victory. I have a lot of respect for this team, coach Sfairopoulos, and his coaching staff. For me, it’s one of the best teams in Europe, not only this year but in the last years, the way they play and fight for every possession. So I have a lot of respect for this team, and congratulations on their victory, “ he stated. “From our side, I’m very proud of my players today. I think we did a great job. It was a very difficult game to play and understand. But we were able to come back two or three times. I’m not happy, of course, because I think we did a lot of good things today to win the game, but we couldn’t win it. And I don’t have a very good feeling about what happened during the game. I have a very good feeling about my team, a lot of respect for the opponent, but not a very good feeling of the game, “ he concluded.
On the other hand coach Sfairopoulos’ shared his thoughts on the last minutes of the game as well as having Spanoulis back: “We hesitated in the last minutes of regulation time, allowing Madrid to come back and send the game to overtime. For sure we are a good defensive team, but I think that at the end we missed some rebounds and gave them some open shots that we could have avoided and won easily. Vassilis (Spanoulis) is our leader and the player we miss from the beginning of the season. I’m very glad he’s back. That was his first game in EuroLeague and from now on he will improve. He will find his rhythm and he will be even better, to help all the others and to play even better as a team, to keep fighting for our goals.”
Finally, Giorgos Printezis had a season-high 21 points as he led his team to victory. “It was a crucial moment and I wanted to score those [free throws], but anyway, what’s most important is that we won a very important game. Everyone knows that Madrid is a team that can react. We continue, nothing else. I have played with Vassilis many years, and for everybody, for our confidence, for our team, for our coach, for the fans…he’s our leader. And I wish him to be healthy and continue like this for many years more.”