2015-16Top 16Round 13
Khimki Moscow Region 98
Olympiacos Piraeus 66
March 31, 2016 CET: 19:45
Local time: 20:45 KRYLATSKOYE SPORTS PALACE

Khimki torches Olympiacos in pivotal game

Khimki Moscow Region played a near-perfect game on Thursday to rout Olympiacos Piraeus 98-66 in an important game with playoff implications. Petteri Koponen came off the bench to make 5 of 7 three-pointers for 21 points in 17 minutes, Alexey Shved also drilled 5 threes and scored 19 and James Augustine posted 18 points and 10 rebounds for Khimki, which improved to 7-6 and increased its playoff chances. Olympiacos fell to 6-7 and is no longer in control of its own destiny. Olympiacos held a 2-point advantage in the second quarter before Shved connected on 4 threes in a 17-2 run and the Reds never recovered. The difference was 12 at halftime, reached the 20s in the third quarter and peaked at 36 in the fourth. Tyler Honeycutt added 8 points and 8 rebounds for Khimki. Othello Hunter scored 14 for Olympiacos.

First quarter: Koponen shoots hosts in front

Khimki went inside to Augustine and Olympiacos to Hunter for the game’s first baskets. Shved’s triple and Tyrese Rice’s layup through the Reds’ defense gave the hosts a 7-2 start. Hunter dunked again before Vangelis Mantzaris tied it with a triple. Shved’s baseline drive soon had Khimki back in front. Kostas Papaniklaou evened things with a steal and layup, however Augustine found himself open outside and buried a jumper to make it 11-9. After the TV timeout, Sergey Monia nailed a foul-line jumper. Papanikolaou scored an easy layup on an inbounds play, however Zoran Dragic connected from downtown. Georgios Printezis scored on the offensive glass to keep the Reds close. Koponen and Printezis traded threes before Hunter made it a 1-point game with a fast break layup. Josh Boone took control on the offensive glass to keep Khimki on top until Spanoulis tied it with a three from the top of the key. Printezis split free throws to give Olympiacos its first lead, but Koponen matched him and then nailed a triple in the dying second of the quarter for a 25-22 edge.

Second quarter: Shved heats up and fuels Khimki run

Daniel Hackett buried an open three to tie it on the first play of the quarter. Boone and Hakim Warrick traded jumpers. After Boone scored inside, Warrick drew a foul at the other end and split free throws. Ioannis Papapetrou took charge with a block at one end and a basket-plus-foul on the other for a 29-31 Olympiacos lead. However back-to-back threes by Shved put the home team back in control. After an Olympiacos timeout, Warrick put in his own miss, but Shved connected on another three to make it 38-33 midway through the quarter. Honeycutt added a triple of his own from the corner and Augustine’s put-back plus-foul made it a double-digit advantage. Shevd drilled his fifth three of the night to cap a 17-2 charge. Papanikolaou ended the Olympiacos drought with a free throw with two minutes left in the corner, but Shved found a cutting Augustine for a layup. Papanikolaou turned a rejection into a layup in the final seconds of the half to get within 48-36.

Third quarter: Augustine, Honeycutt push the difference to the 20s

Dragic drove, drew a defender and dished to Augustine for an easy layup to open the second half scoring. Hunter missed a dunk and Augustine scored twice more for an 18-point lead, at which point Olympiacos called timeout. A Mantzaris-to-Hunter alley-oop slam and free throws by Mantzaris and Spanoulis revived the Reds. However Augustine threw in a hook over Hunter and Koponen connected on a triple. After a tip-in from hunter, Monia made it 62-44 with a three. Mantzaris drove for a basket-plus-foul, but an Egor Vyaltsev jumper and Honeycutt triple prompted an Olympiacos timeout at 67-47. Koponen picked off Spanoulis’s pass and took it for a layup. Despite Printezis’s free throws, the momentum remained with Khimki. Boone scored inside, Honeycutt nailed a jumper and Koponen ended the quarter with a step-back jumper that made it 76-50.

Fourth quarter: Koponen ices the game with a pair of triples

Koponen made his fourth three-pointer at the start of the quarter. After Warrick sank 2 free throws, Koponen made another triple to establish a 30-point advantage. Hackett hit a jumper and continued to play hard on defense, but Khimki had shifted into cruise control. The lead only swelled on a basket by Monia and three-point play by Dragic. Hunter and Rice traded free throws and Hunter added another basket on the offensive glass. Shved made free throws to establish the biggest lead of the game at 94-58. Shved played hard till the end with a block in the final minute as Khimki strolled to a historic victory.

Petteri Koponen - Khimki Moscow Region - EB15
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Euroleague.net
Referees: HIERREZUELO, DANIEL; BOLTAUZER, MATEJ; HORDOV, TOMISLAV
Attendance: 3500
By Quarter1234
Khimki Moscow Region25232822
Olympiacos Piraeus22141416
End of Quarter1234
Khimki Moscow Region25487698
Olympiacos Piraeus22365066
Khimki Moscow Region
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 RICE, TYRESE 22:17 4 1/5 0/1 2/2       4   2     2 2 1
1 SHVED, ALEXEY 27:06 19 1/5 5/10 2/2   3 3 2   1 1 1 2 1 13
3 DRAGIC, ZORAN 23:21 8 2/2 1/3 1/1 1 3 4 1   1     4 3 9
5 AUGUSTINE, JAMES 26:14 18 9/10   0/1 2 8 10 3       1 1 1 28
6 BOONE, JOSH 13:46 9 4/6   1/4 4 2 6 1     1 1 1 3 13
8 KOPONEN, PETTERI 17:24 21 2/3 5/7 2/4   1 1 4 1 1     1 5 25
9 VIALTSEV, EGOR 9:17 2 1/1 0/1         2       1 3   -1
11 ILNITSKIY, STANISLAV 13:16 2   0/1 2/2 2 3 5           3 2 5
12 MONIA, SERGEY 26:20 7 2/4 1/3     2 2 3 1       3 1 7
33 HONEYCUTT, TYLER 20:59 8 1/2 2/3   3 5 8 1         2 1 14
45 SHELEKETO, MAKSIM DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           3 2 5               5
Totals 200:00 98 23/38 14/29 10/16 15 29 44 21 2 5 2 4 22 19 119
        60.5% 48.3% 62.5%
Head coach: IVANOVIC, DUSKO
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
Olympiacos Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 JOHNSON-ODOM, DARIUS 15:31   0/3 0/1     1 1 1   1   1 2   -6
5 HUNTER, OTHELLO 25:25 14 6/7   2/2 4 3 7       1   2 2 21
6 PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS 21:02 8 2/4 1/1 1/1   2 2     1 2   2 1 8
7 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 27:31 8 0/6 2/6 2/2 2   2 4   1     3 4 4
8 STRAWBERRY, DJ 13:45   0/1 0/3     1 1   1       3 2 -3
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 20:50 8 1/5 1/3 3/4 1 3 4 1           3 9
16 AGRAVANIS, DIMITRIS 3:09   0/1                   1     -2
17 MANTZARIS, VANGELIS 26:31 8 1/3 1/3 3/4 1 3 4 3 2       3 2 11
21 WARRICK, HAKIM 9:34 8 2/3   4/6 1 2 3 1         1 3 11
23 HACKETT, DANIEL 13:29 5 1/1 1/2         1   1     2 2 4
25 PAPANIKOLAOU, KOSTAS 23:13 7 3/5 0/5 1/2 1 2 3 2 1 1 1   1 2 6
27 ATHINAIOU, IOANNIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 66 16/39 6/24 16/21 12 18 30 13 4 5 4 2 19 21 66
        41% 25% 76.2%
Head coach: SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS

Head Coaches

IVANOVIC, DUSKO
Khimki Moscow Region
"This is an important victory and everything is in our hands now. We have a chance in the last game in Madrid. I think this game was about two things. First is very good play in defense. In offense we played with patience and with very good circulation of the ball. It’s true that we had excellent three-point percentage, scoring every time from good positions. I think we have chosen a more difficult way of qualifying to the playoffs because it’s very tough to win in Madrid. But I believe we can. My players will try to do it. We had a clear idea how to play with Olympiacos. We needed to do it like a team and tonight was the last option. We played with determination; that is most important."
SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"We want to congratulate Khimki on the win. Before the game we said it was like a final for us, but unfortunately we didn’t play it like a final. We played lower than our usual level. Khimki is a very good offensive team. We knew that in order to stay in the game, we should player tougher in defense to break their rhythm, to slow down their game. Unfortunately this didn’t happen at all and I can say that in the first half we tried to do some things better than in the second. There were some moments when we didn’t play smart. They got a lead of about 10-12 points in the end of the second quarter. After that it was very difficult to come back because they played with a lot of confidence and made some shots from outside we couldn’t stop. And the difference got bigger. I don’t like to find excuses, but for us it was the third final in a week. Of course, it’s very difficult for the players to find extra energy and to be so focused to play one more final in so little time. I think that was the reason why tonight we didn’t play with energy. We didn’t fight and it looked like we couldn’t follow the rhythm."

Players

KOPONEN, PETTERI
Khimki Moscow Region
"I think everybody was focused tonight. We did a pretty good job both in defense and offense. We executed the game plan very well and made the right shots. Basically it’s a very good game for us. But we haven’t achieved anything yet because we have one more game in Madrid that we need to win. Everything is still in our hands. It will be one more fight and we need to be ready for that. For sure, it’s one of our best games in the Euroleague so far. We stopped Olympiacos at 66 points and scored practically 100 points. With such defense, we might beat every team. We have enough talent to score more points, but it’s all about our effort and focus on defense. "
JOHNSON-ODOM, DARIUS
Olympiacos Piraeus
“Congrats to Khimki. Tonight it was difficult to stop them in offense. We didn’t play our normal defense and gave up a lot of easy shots. It was pretty hard to contain them and slow down. We didn’t really match their rhythm tonight. We have one more game to keep fighting for the playoffs."