2009-10PlayoffsGame 2
March 25, 2010 CET: 20:00
Local time: 21:00 PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM

Olympiacos, which dispatched Asseco Prokom Gdynia 90-73

Olympiacos sits on the doorstep of a second Final Four in a row after shedding pesky Asseco Prokom Gdynia with a 90-73 home victory in Game 2 of their Playoffs series at home on Thursday in Pireaus, Greece. Olympiacos leads the best-of-five series 2-0 and can clinch when the teams meet in Game 3 next Tuesday in Gdynia, Poland. As in Game 1, the Reds had trouble shaking Prokom, which had a shot to lead late in the third quarter, but missed and let Olympiacos pull away from there. The winners were led again by Linas Kleiza, who piled up 26 points and 9 rebounds. Theo Papaloukas came off the bench to hit 4 of 6 three-pointers on his way to 20 points. Milos Teodosic had 14 points and 12 assists, his career high and the third-most in playoffs history. Josh Childress rounded out the effort with 11 points and 7 rebounds. Qyntel Woods was again everywhere for Prokom, with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Daniel Ewing added 19 points for the guests and Ratko Varda 10, but Prokom will go home searchign for its first-ever playoff victory to keep the series alive.

Both teams changed starters for Game 2, with Olympiacos bringing out Scoonie Penn at point guard and Prokom opting for Jan Jagla at power forward. Nonetheless, Kleiza picked up where he left off in Game 1, swishing a three-pointer to open the scoring. Daniel Ewing had that honor for Prokom with a fastbreak layup. Schortsanitis and Childress exchanged free throws with Ewing before the Reds suddenly soared on consecutive triples by Kleiza and Teodosic at 12-4. After a Prokom timeout, consecutive offensive reounds let Woods rock the rim with a spin and dunk. Jagla put back another offensive rebound, but Schortsanitis at the other end did the same, while Kleiza hit a two-point jumper for the first double-digit advantage, 18-8. Ewing got loose for another fastbreak and a follow-úp dunk, but in between Teodosic popped a jumper. And Kleiza would not be denied, who scored 3 points the hard way to make it 23-12. Woods took a basket back for Prokom, but Boruousis matched it and Olympiacos ws in charge, 25-14, after 10 minutes.

The beat went on in the second quarter as Papaloukas drove for a layup and dunked, exchanging the same baskets with Woods, before Teodosic's next shot upped the difference to 31-18. Woods kept up his rhythm at the foul line, as Papaloukas kept up his by feeding Mavrokefalidis for a layup. Kleiza returned with a short jumper and now Teodosic found Mavrokefalidis with a nifty pass to make it 37-20. Ronnie Burrell got back 3 points for Prokom, but Childress insisted for an inside basket and Papaloukas erased Varda free throws with a jumper and a dunk to maintain the Reds comfortably ahead, 44-27. Or so it seemed, until Woods and Varda started shredding the Olympiacos defense and getting to the foul line for a sudden 0-8 run to lower the difference to 44-35. Olympiacos took a timeout after which Teodosic hit Yotam Halperin cutting for a lyup. But Ewing had the last say, from three-point distance, to leave a 46-38 scoreboard at the half.

The second half started with Prokom keeping its momentum on a steal and dunk by Logan. Neither team could find the basket then until Jagla stole and hit a baseline jumper that made it a whole new ballgame at 46-42. When Logan fed Adam Lapeta for a transition dunk, however, Childress responded with a triple from the corner that let the Olympiacos fans release a breath. But Prokom was feeling good, and when Ewing's inside basket was followed by Logan drilling from the arc, it was all tied up, 49-49. Free throws by Teodosic off an intentional foul kept Olympiakos in front during a couple tense minutes before the Reds looked to get Kleiza re-started. His short jumper and free throws made it 55-49, but Ewing drilled a corner triple in response. Kleiza got back to the line, staying perfect there, while Woods twirled in the lane for a beatuiful basket and Logan fed Varda for another to make it 57-56. Prokom's miss trying for its first go-ahead shot all game was punished by Papaloukas feeding Teodosic for a fastbreak triple that forced a timeout by the guests at 60-56. Adam Hrycaniuk scored inside for Prokom and Childress for Olympiacos to serve up a 62-58 difference at the end of three quarters.

The tandem of Nikola Vujcic and Papaloukas set up the latter's triple to open the final quarter, but Woods banked in from closer to keep Prokom within 65-60. Kleiza found a new way to score, with a sensational baseline dunk and bonus free throw, before Childress blocked Varda and sent Papaloukas for a fastbreak triple to restore the first double-digit lead in some time, 71-60. But no one was forgetting Game 1, least of all Prokom, which got an inside drop-in from Varda before Kleiza stole from him for another dunk. Teodosic passing to Papaloukas and Vujcic on consecutive fastbreaks kept the Reds rolling and forced another Prokom timeout at 77-62 with 6 minutes left. Fatigue looked like a factor now for the guests, but they quickly got a three-point play from Woods. When he added a free throw and Ewing a triple, Prokom was again within single digits, 78-69, with under 4 minutes remaining. Unlike in Game 1, however, Olympiacos took care of the ball and got free throws from Childress and Teodosic to keep the difference out of danger. When Papaloukas buried a three-pointer at 84-69 with 2 minutes left, it finished off the victory with the Reds no doubt dreaming more than ever of Paris and the Final Four.

Thursday, March 25, 2010
Euroleague.net
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Referees: FACCHINI, FABIO; ROCHA, FERNANDO; LOTTERMOSER, ROBERT
Attendance: 9200 (Tentative)
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus25211628
Asseco Prokom14242015
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus25466290
Asseco Prokom14385873
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 25:46 20 4/5 4/6     3 3 3 1 2     4   18
5 PENN, SCOONIE 21:50     0/1   1 3 4 1   3     3 2  
6 CHILDRESS, JOSH 31:35 11 2/9 1/3 4/8 4 3 7   2 2 3 1 2 5 10
7 VUJCIC, NIKOLA 12:32 4 2/4 0/1         1 2       3 1 2
8 VASILOPOULOS, PANAGIOTIS 1:09                              
9 BOUROUSIS, IOANNIS 10:56 2 1/2     1 2 3 1 1   2   2   6
10 HALPERIN, YOTAM 4:10 2 1/1                         2
11 KLEIZA, LINAS 34:09 26 7/11 2/5 6/6 1 8 9 1 2 1       5 35
12 MAVROKEFALIDIS, LOUKAS 10:04 4 2/3     1 3 4 2   2     2 2 7
17 BEVERLEY, PATRICK 1:43 2 1/1       1 1               3
18 TEODOSIC, MILOS 33:47 14 2/4 2/3 4/4   3 3 12 1 1     2 3 27
21 SCHORTSANITIS, SOFOKLIS 12:19 5 1/4   3/5 1 1 2     1   1 2 3 1
Team           1   1               1
Totals 200:00 90 23/44 9/19 17/23 10 27 37 21 9 12 5 2 20 21 112
        52.3% 47.4% 73.9%
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
Asseco Prokom
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
7 SEWERYN, LUKASZ DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11 HARRINGTON, JUNIOR 5:42   0/1                         -1
12 LOGAN, DAVID 37:20 5 1/3 1/8   1 1 2 4 4       1 2 7
14 JAGLA, JAN 14:28 5 2/4 0/4 1/2 1 5 6   1       2 2 5
16 LAPETA, ADAM 9:51 2 1/1     1   1   1 1 1   3   1
17 ZAMOJSKI, PRZEMYSLAW 6:04 3   1/2                   2    
20 SZCZOTKA, PIOTR 0:35                              
21 VARDA, RATKO 15:07 10 3/7   4/6 2 2 4 1   2   3 4 5 5
24 WOODS, QYNTEL 37:51 20 7/12 0/2 6/7 4 10 14 1 1 3   1 2 7 29
30 BURRELL, RONNIE 25:32 5 2/3 0/1 1/1   3 3   1 2     2 2 5
32 EWING, DANIEL 32:28 19 4/10 3/5 2/2   1 1 3 1 4 1 1 2 2 12
34 HRYCANIUK, ADAM 15:02 4 2/3               2     3   -2
Team           5 1 6           1   5
Totals 200:00 73 22/44 5/22 14/18 14 23 37 9 9 14 2 5 22 20 66
        50% 22.7% 77.8%
Head coach: PACESAS, TOMAS

Head Coaches

GIANNAKIS, PANAGIOTIS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"I have to start with congratulating our fans for their great support and the superb atmosphere they built tonight. We started the game strong and having good concentration led us to control the game. However, after that we made some bad choices and allowed Prokom to come back and compete for the win. At that point, my players did not panic, used their minds, played well and sailed to the win despite the pressure. We are now 2-0 up and look forward for the next game. Papaloukas and Kleiza did not argue; it’s normal for two players to talk during the game concerning the pressure and the desire to win. I think that we are a team that gets points from both inside and outside, and especially in this game we had very good team cooperation."
PACESAS, TOMAS
Asseco Prokom
"I think that we played very well for 35 minutes. However, at the end we didn’t have the concentration needed, neither on defense nor on offense. We have been fighters so far and we will prove in the next games that we can play even better. Some key players of ours got tired down the stretch and that cost us. Based on our scouting report, we let on purpose some Olympiacos players to shoot open from the perimeter so that we could avoid baskets from inside. Our tactics were to give Childress and Papaloukas the opportunities to execute from the three-point range. But, tonight proved to be like a birthday for Papaloukas who scored 4 triples on an extraordinary percentage. That’s basketball; we have to take some risks, but can never be sure what to expect."

Players

KLEIZA, LINAS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"This game proved tough, too. Prokom had good momentum, but we improved our game both on the defensive and the offensive end and got an easy win at the end. But, be careful; the series has not ended yet. We have to beat them once more in order to get our ticket for the Final Four in Paris. Prokom has beaten at its home all the good teams. Tonight, the difference disappeared when we started to play with enthusiasm. As far as the play with Teodosic, when Milos passed the ball off the glass to me, this is something that we had tried during practice. The purpose was to finish it with a dunk, but the lay-up was ok, too, don’t you think?"
EWING, DANIEL
Asseco Prokom
"In the first half, we didn’t shoot well from the perimeter and didn’t manage to cause any trouble for Olympiacos. But we didn’t give up despite Olympiacos’s run. As such, we got a good streak thanks to our defense and tied the game. We knew that it would be difficult to stay close till the end, but I think that we had the chance and missed it because of some easy mistakes we committed. In any case, we could have won one of these two games, but Olympiacos proved that they hold a team of great quality."
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