2010-11PlayoffsGame 2
March 24, 2011 CET: 20:45
Local time: 21:45 PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM
Malik Hairston - Montepaschi Siena - EB10

Montepaschi Siena stunned Olympiacos 65-82

Montepaschi Siena stunned Olympiacos 65-82 on Thursday night at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus, Greece, to tie their best-of-five Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs series at 1-1. After the Reds thoroughly dominated Game 1 in a record-setting performance, Montepaschi bounced back in Game 2 with a spirited effort. The win stopped cold an Olympiacos seven-game winning streak in Euroleague play and gave Montepaschi the home-court advantage with the series shifting to Italy for two games next week where the Italian champs could potentially close out the series with two wins. Malik Hairston paced the winners with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Rimantas Kaukenas scored 14 and Milovan Rakovic added 12 in a commendable team effort on the defensive end. The visitors nailed 54% of their three-point attempts. Montepaschi had a good start to the gameand Olympiacos was not able to match the visitor’s intensity. The hosts got as close as 4 points in the final quarter, but ended up losing by much more. Loukas Mavrokefalides scored 16 points and grabbed 7 rebounds for the hosts, while Vassilis Spanoulis added 12 points and 5 assists and Rasho Nestrevoic recorded 10 points in defeat.

Newly-installed in the starting lineup, Marco Carraretto made sure Montepaschi got on the board early after the previous blowout, and the game’s first basket came courtesy of a pull-up jumper by the visiting guard. The Italian champs showed defensive tenacity from the get-go, forcing a pair of quick turnovers and playing with a new-found confidence on the offensive end. Rakovic answered a Kostas Papanikolaou triple with a running hook after his 0-for-7 performance on Tuesday, and the visitors matched pace with Olympiacos, as Kaukenas challenged and beat Ioannis Bourousis on consecutive gutsy penetrations to score it 8-10. Spanoulis answered with his own off-balance shot at the other end, as both teams seemed to counter-punch each other in 4-point stretches, jockeying for pole position in a game that had no resemblance to the previous one. An aggressive Montepaschi closed the opening quarter in style with a Marko Jaric three-point play off a steal and another layup after a most-unusual Theodoros Papaloukas turnover. As Kaukenas dropped a running teardrop to follow, the visiting run closed with 10 unanswered points and the score settled at 12-20 by the end of the period.

The lead grew to 12 at the start of the second after a Hairston put-back and a dunk, as the visitors attacked the rim and Olympiacos could not get its big men going. A Zoran Erceg triple was promptly answered by Shaun Stonerook at the other end, a testament to Siena’s attitude makeover and new-found edge, with matters standing at 15-27. The hosts worked to set up their half-court offense through Papaloukas’s experienced hands, but could not establish deep position inside or manufacture good perimeter looks. After a Ksistof Lavrinovic three and a Hairston jumper extended the visiting lead to 17-32, the Reds attacked the offensive glass relentlessly in search of a spark, but Siena’s excellent ball movement at the other end produced quality shots. When Nikos Zisis wasn’t knocking down a mid-range jumper, it was Kaukenas sneaking in for a backdoor bankshot, and only Nesterovic’s know-how in the paint at the offensive end kept the hosts within striking distance. Olympiacos still was able to dig deep and muster a mini-run to close the quarter, by way of a Papaloukas jumpshot and Papanikolaou breakaway layup, reaching halftime a bit peppier at 31-39.

Head coach Dusan Ivkovic’s team came out of the tunnel fully focused after the break, scoring 4 straight points and forcing visiting head coach Simone Pianigiani to burn a timeout. With inside position a dicey matter, Bourousis stepped beyond the arc to drain a triple, and Zisis centered the attention on the visiting attack. Hairston sparked his team with a spectacular put-back dunk off a Rakovic miss. Papaloukas drained another triple to tighten the margin at 43-48. As the crowd roared and intensity picked up, Montepaschi did not back down, with Stonerook setting the defensive tone and Zisis heating up on offense. Hairston dropped a long-range bomb to keep Olympiacos on its heels at 51-61, the score at the end of three.

With a 10-point deficit and 10 minutes to go, the hosts went back inside to start the final quarter and found some relief through Nesterovic, but Rakovic dropped a jumper at the other end and Stonerook and Hairston added long-range bombs to stretch it out to 56-68 again with just over six minutes to play. Panigiani’s crew spaced the floor diligently as Olympiacos tightened up the defense, and Kaukenas attacked the basket, capitalizing on a three-point play off a running hook before Rakovic hit again to make it a 13-point difference at the midway mark. Frustration started to mount for the home squad, who had to earn many of its points from the foul line, and turnovers kept mounting at the worst possible time. Trying to make up for lost ground, the home guards pressed the issue against a steady Montepaschi zone defense, while the visiting big men moved well without the ball enjoyed easy makes. With less than three minutes remaining, an emphatic Lavrinovic block of a Mavrokefalides shot symbolized much of the night for both teams involved: Montepaschi’s commendable resilience under duress. As Olympiacos was unable to claw back, another image lingered in the closing minutes, as the dejected home bench looked on. And one enduring thought: we have a series, indeed.

Thursday, March 24, 2011
Euroleague.net
No results found.
Referees: MITJANA, JUAN CARLOS; ROCHA, FERNANDO; CONDE, ANTONIO
Attendance: 13000 (Tentative)
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus12192014
Montepaschi Siena20192221
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus12315165
Montepaschi Siena20396182
Olympiacos Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS 33:14 5 1/2 1/3     2 2 5 3 1     1 2 12
5 NESTEROVIC, RASHO 18:16 10 4/4   2/4 2 2 4     2     2 3 11
7 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 28:16 12 3/4 0/5 6/6       5 2 5     4 4 8
9 BOUROUSIS, IOANNIS 15:19 7 2/3 1/2     4 4 1   5 1   1 2 7
11 PELEKANOS, MICHALIS 6:24     0/1             1         -2
12 MAVROKEFALIDIS, LOUKAS 23:58 16 5/7 0/1 6/8 3 4 7 1   2   1 2 6 20
15 NIELSEN, MATT DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
16 PAPANIKOLAOU, KOSTAS 14:23 5 1/2 1/1 0/2 1 2 3           3 2 4
17 ERCEG, ZORAN 22:27 9 2/3 1/5 2/2 2   2 2   4 1   2 2 5
19 KATSIVELIS, DIMITRIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 HALPERIN, YOTAM 9:43   0/1     1   1 1           1 2
22 GORDON, JAMON 28:00 1 0/1   1/4 1 3 4 2 2 2     3 3 3
Team                                
Totals 200:00 65 18/27 4/18 17/26 10 17 27 17 7 22 2 1 18 25 70
        66.7% 22.2% 65.4%
Head coach: IVKOVIC, DUSAN
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
Montepaschi Siena
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 MCCALEBB, BO 2:00   0/1                     1   -2
6 ZISIS, NIKOS 23:33 9 3/5 1/4         3 1 1     2   5
7 HAIRSTON, MALIK 32:37 19 7/9 1/2 2/2 6 5 11 2 2     1 2 4 32
9 CARRARETTO, MARCO 13:26 6 3/6       1 1 1         2   3
11 RAKOVIC, MILOVAN 22:53 12 6/10   0/1 4 1 5   1 1     3 1 10
12 LAVRINOVIC, KSISTOF 30:08 8 1/4 1/2 3/4 1 1 2 2   4 1   3 5 6
13 KAUKENAS, RIMANTAS 26:06 14 5/9 1/1 1/1   1 1 3   4   1 1 2 10
15 MICHELORI, ANDREA 4:46   0/1     1   1           1   -1
18 AKINDELE, JELEEL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 JARIC, MARKO 16:27 7 3/7   1/1 1   1 2 3 1     2 3 9
20 STONEROOK, SHAUN 22:13 7   2/2 1/2   4 4     2     5 2 5
34 MOSS, DAVID 5:51               1   2     3 1 -3
Team             4 4               4
Totals 200:00 82 28/52 6/11 8/11 13 17 30 14 7 15 1 2 25 18 78
        53.8% 54.5% 72.7%
Head coach: PIANIGIANI, SIMONE

Head Coaches

IVKOVIC, DUSAN
Olympiacos Piraeus
"Siena was the better team on court tonight and won fair and straight. This was a difficult game for us to prepare. I didn’t expect that we would feel so much pressure; even our most experienced players did not keep their composure tonight. We finished the first period having committed 9 turnovers and were down by 8 points. We trimmed the margin before halftime, but when we had the opportunity to correct our errors we reacted bad. At the end of the third quarter we had committed only two fouls; that proves our low level of aggressiveness. We lost the opportunity to fight for the win. We shot well, but the turnovers and the lost defensive rebounds cost us a lot. Now, we have three-days time to get ready for the third game, in Italy. I have faith in my team. I believe that we can win this. We will see if we have to do some changes in the roster. Teodosic absence was evident tonight. I am going to discuss with doctors about the possibility to have him for the games in Italy. My team has great character and we know how to play on the road."
PIANIGIANI, SIMONE
Montepaschi Siena
"I am obviously satisfied with our game tonight. However, I still believe that Olympiacos is the favorite to win the series, because it holds players with quality, experience and proven character. This win, though, is very important for us; not only we do now have better possibility to advance for the Final Four, but we bounced back perfectly after a shock 48-point defeat on Tuesday. I am proud for my players. On Tuesday, Olympiacos thrashed us, but 48 hours later we were the team to control the game in its entire, showed spirit, controlled the rebounds, did everything we had to do on both ends and paid attention to the details, too. We used all our weapons in order to win tonight. We now have to get prepared for the games at home. I should repeat that I think that Olympiacos still has the first saying in this series. To add to this, keep in mind that two years ago we had won Panathinaikos in OAKA Sports Hall, but lost twice at home."

Players

PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"We knew that this was going to be a tough game. Siena holds a very good team. The way the first game went did not help us to get prepared for the second. No matter how much you might try, you can’t be completely focused after winning by 48 points. Siena did not have anything to lose and played with no pressure. They were determined to prove things after their heavy loss; they came out very aggressive and built a good difference. It was difficult for us to come back after that. We had a bad start and than reacted under pressure. The court was sold-out and we felt we should not disappoint the crowd. But, this team has not yet the experience to handle such a situation. I can’t blame anyone or anything. Me, myself was not as ready as I should have been for such a crucial game. Now, is the time to prove our willingness and our passion, stay together and get a lesson of both games so far. Next Tuesday it will be a different game. We have to see what went wrong, work on our weaknesses and go and win at least one game in Italy. We have to keep our heads down and get through this together. We are now drowning; we should help each other breath and get over the water surface. We had proven in the past that we can make it. We played one excellent and one very bad game. We can’t say that we transformed from a great team to a very bad team. The series in not over; there are still games to be played. Now, Siena will have the pressure on its side as it has to prove at its home that they can advance for the Final Four."
HAIRSTON, MALIK
Montepaschi Siena
!We had a great game tonight; we controlled the tempo from the beginning and followed our plan. We knew that if we were ahead, Olympiacos was going to feel the home pressure. We played very good on the defensive end and did not allow Olympiacos easy baskets. We went for the offensive rebounds, moved the ball well, created good opportunities and executed well. Every player delivered tonight. We were ready to prove things after what happened two nights earlier and our 48-point defeat. But, again this win could not mean anything of we don’t win the next on at home. We have to work hard, stay calm and concentrated and prepare for the next game.!
No results found.