2009-10Regular SeasonRound 10
January 13, 2010 CET: 20:00
Local time: 21:00 PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM

Olympiacos defeated Partizan 81-60

Olympiacos became the Group B champion and earned top-seeded status in the upcoming Top 16 draw next week by downing Partizan 81-60 at home on Wednesday. Olympiacos finished first in Group B with a 8-2 record and Partizan was third at 5-5. Both teams were already qualified to the Top 16 before the game. Linas Kleiza led the winners with 16 points. Yotam Halperin added 14, Ioannis Bouroussis had 12 while Josh Childress got 10 for Olympiacos. Lawrence Roberts and Bo McCalebb each had 14 points for Partizan while Jan Vesely added 11. Kleiza and Bourousis shined late in the first quarter to give Olympiacos a 20-15 lead after 10 minutes. Childress and an unstoppable Kleiza boosted the hosts' lead to 36-28 late in the first half but Dusan Kecman and McCalebb brought Partizan back to life, 36-33, at halftime. An outstanding Roberts allowed Partizan to get its last lead, 44-47. Olympiacos improved its defense while Childress, Kleiza and Halperin fueled a game-breaking 15-0 run that allowed the Reds to get a 63-49 margin after 30 minutes. Olympiacos soon made it a 20-point game, 72-52, and never looked back.

Olympiacos coach Panagiotis Giannakis placed Andreas Glyniadakis in its starting lineup to stop Slavko Vranes in the early going. Vranes, however, got Partizan going with a four-meter jumper and had a big block on him. Both teams struggled to score early but back-to-back jumpers by Milos Teodosic and Halperin gave the Reds a 4-2 edge. Halperin kept pacing Olympiacos with a triple but Vesely and an off-balance layup by Roberts put Partizan back ahead, 7-8. Teodosic hit a jump hook in the paint that McCalebb erased with a reverse layup. Kleiza scored in transition and soon added free throws, as Olympiacos tried to speed up the game tempo. Vesely shined with a two-handed dunk, as Partizan kept dominating the boards with Vranes down low. Petar Bozic soon struck from downtown for a 13-15 Partizan edge. Kleiza nailed a floating jumper and Bourousis followed free throws with a dunk to put the Reds back ahead at 19-15. A free throw by Loukas Mavrokefalidis fixed the score at 20-15 after 10 minutes.

Olympiacos used twin point guards - Scoonie Penn and Patrick Beverley - and Panos Vasilopoulos to guard Vesely at small forward. Vranes and Bourousis traded jump hooks, as Partizan kept following its game plan, trying to slow down the game tempo and get Vranes involved. Bourousis made free throws and Beverley shined with a fast break dunk to boost the hosts' lead to 26-18. Partizan called a much-needed timeout and Roberts rescued the hosts with free throws and an open three-pointer, good for a 26-23 deficit. Olympiacos struggled to score midway through the second quarter and another dunk by Vesely got the guests even closer, 27-25. Nikola Vujcic sank his trademark jump hook and Kleiza raced downcourt for a fast break slam that kept Olympiacos out of trouble, 31-25. Branislav Dekic took over with a reverse layup that Kleiza erased with foul shots. Childress and Vranes traded free throws and Kleiza buried a fallaway jumper for an eight-point Olympiacos edge at 36-28. Kecman struck from downtown and McCalebb added a fast break layup for a 36-33 Partizan deficit at halftime.

McCalebb sank a driving layup immediatly after the break and free throws by Vesely put Partizan back ahead, 36-37. Olympiacos had been scoreless for more than 2 minutes until Childress hit free throws. Roberts quickly answered from downtown but a long jumper by Teodosic tied it at 40-40. McCalebb stayed on fire with an acrobatic layup and a big triple from the top of the key but Childress and Bourousis kept Olympiacos within 44-45. Roberts scored down low but Halperin downed a corner three-pointer and soon scored off a midcourt steal to force Partizan to call timeout at 49-47. Halperin kept pacing Olympiacos with another fast break layup and Childress dunked it to restore a 53-47 Olympiacos run. Vujcic sank a hook shot and an alleyoop dunk by Childress gave Olympiacos a double-digit lead, 57-47. Partizan has been scoreless for more than 4 minutes already. Meanwhile, free throws by Kleiza and Teodosic capped a 16-0 Olympiacos run. Roberts rescued the guests with a layup but Penn beat the buzzer with a triple for a 63-49 Olympiacos lead after 30 minutes.

Kleiza set the crowd on fire with a high-flying dunk early in the fourth quarter, as Olympiacos was all over the place in defense now. The Reds kept running their offense through Kleiza, as Partizan slowly improved its defense. The guests' problems came in the other end, however, as Olympiacos did not allow open shots now. Vujcic sank free throws to seal the outcome, 68-50, with 7 minutes to go. Partizan kept trying, however, as Vesely sank foul shots and the guests tried a 2-3 zone defense. Bourousis sank free throws and Beverley dunked it to make it a 20-point game, 72-52. Everything was said and done already, as Olympiacos pleased its fans with a big home win that allowed the Reds to win Group B. Meanwhile, Partizan hopes to bounce back from this loss right away in its fourth consecutive Top 16 appearance.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Euroleague.net
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Referees: MITJANA, JUAN CARLOS; GARCIA, JUAN CARLOS; CHIARI, ROBERTO
Attendance: 6200
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus20162718
Partizan Belgrade15181611
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus20366381
Partizan Belgrade15334960
Olympiacos Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 PENN, SCOONIE 11:54 3 0/2 1/1         1 1 1     4   -2
6 CHILDRESS, JOSH 32:34 10 3/6 0/3 4/6   3 3 2 1 3   1 1 4 7
7 VUJCIC, NIKOLA 17:22 6 2/4   2/2 3 3 6 2 1 1   1 2 1 10
9 BOUROUSIS, IOANNIS 17:14 12 3/6 0/2 6/6 3 1 4 3 4     1 1 5 21
10 HALPERIN, YOTAM 24:50 14 4/5 2/3     3 3 1 1 1       1 17
11 KLEIZA, LINAS 21:41 16 5/10 0/1 6/8 1 3 4 3 1 2   1 1 7 19
12 MAVROKEFALIDIS, LOUKAS 12:59 3 1/1   1/2   1 1 1   1     3 1 1
13 VASILOPOULOS, PANAGIOTIS 7:40                   1 1   3   -3
14 GLYNIADAKIS, ANDREAS 7:35   0/1             1   1 1 1   -1
16 PAPANIKOLAOU, KOSTAS 2:55     0/1     1 1                
17 BEVERLEY, PATRICK 15:43 9 4/6   1/2 1 2 3 1 2       2 2 12
18 TEODOSIC, MILOS 27:33 8 3/3 0/2 2/2   3 3 9 4 1 3   4 3 23
Team           3 2 5               5
Totals 200:00 81 25/44 3/13 22/28 11 22 33 23 16 11 5 5 22 24 109
        56.8% 23.1% 78.6%
Head coach: GIANNAKIS, PANAGIOTIS
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
Partizan Belgrade
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 ROBERTS, LAWRENCE 32:03 14 3/7 2/5 2/5 3 2 5   1 5     3 5 7
6 MCCALEBB, BO 27:44 14 5/8 1/4 1/2   3 3 3 4     4 2 4 15
7 KECMAN, DUSAN 21:43 6   1/1 3/4   3 3     3       3 8
8 MILOSEVIC, STRAHINJA 7:15 1 0/2 0/1 1/2 2   2   1 1   1   1 -1
10 RASIC, ALEKSANDAR 17:56   0/1 0/1     1 1 2   3     1   -3
11 LUCIC, VLADIMIR 1:19                   1         -1
18 BESOVIC, NEMANJA 0:57                         1   -1
19 MITROVIC, ALEKSANDAR 4:28 3   1/1             1         2
20 BOZIC, PETAR 12:56 3   1/5         2 2 1     5 1 -2
24 VESELY, JAN 27:58 11 2/5 1/2 4/4 4 3 7 1 1 1     5 5 15
31 DJEKIC, BRANISLAV 11:22 2 1/1 0/2   1 1 2     2     5 1 -4
33 VRANES, SLAVKO 34:19 6 2/5   2/4 1 6 7     4 5   2 2 9
Team                                
Totals 200:00 60 13/29 7/22 13/21 11 19 30 8 9 22 5 5 24 22 44
        44.8% 31.8% 61.9%
Head coach: VUJOSEVIC, DUSKO

Head Coaches

GIANNAKIS, PANAGIOTIS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"We concentrated on defense, but we committed some turnovers on the offensive end in the first half. That is why Partizan stayed close. But as time went by, we improved our offense, kept up our good performance in defense and sailed to an easy win. We had the opportunity to use all of our players and I think the fans enjoyed good basketball."
VUJOSEVIC, DUSKO
Partizan Belgrade
"Congratulations to Olympiacos. They played better and deserved to win tonight. Olympiacos missed Papaloukas and Sofo, but we also did not have Aleks Maric. The game's quality could have been better, had both teams had all of their players available. There was not so much importance in this game as both teams had qualified, so we had the opportunity to use some young players. When Olympiacos used some aggressiveness in defense, we lost control of the game and the score. We could have played better tonight, however I am happy with our general performance so far in the Euroleague. We managed to qualify for the Top 16 and that is a success, especially considering the fact that our group was a very tough one."

Players

HALPERIN, YOTAM
Olympiacos Piraeus
"This win was important for us regardless the fact we had already qualified for the Top 16. Not because we had lost in Belgrade and needed any kind of revenge, but because we should keep our morale at the highest level in order to keep improving. In the first half we made a lot of crucial mistakes on both sides of the floor. Partizan has good players and they punished our lack of concentration. But then we focused on our defense, stole some balls and ran away. I think that defense led us to the win. As the season runs, the importance of defense increases. Now, we are in the Top16 and we should be really careful. There is no more room for defeats, because from now on a loss could cost you too much."
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