2001-02Regular SeasonRound 9
December 19, 2001 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 GLIFADA "MAKIS LIOUGAS" SPORTSHALL
Olympiakos of Athens kept a hand on the steering wheel of its destiny in Group A tonight after boosting its record to 6-3 with a 91-75 home victory over visiting Alba Berlin, whose hopes for advancement are now almost mathematically nil. Berlin (3-6) was undermanned to begin with, as point guard Derrick Phelps had stayed home with injury, but by the time leading scorer Wendell Alexis left with five fouls midway through the third quarter, Olympiakos was almost in complete control. The Reds found a way to get their scoring ace, Alphonso Ford, revved up after a slow start. The results was a slowly increasing lead that exploded with repeated baskets by Ford and Risacher in the decisive minutes after halftime. Ford finished with 28 points to lead five Reds in double figures. Risacher and James Forrest added 14 each, Milan Tomic and Alexi Sevrosenko 11 each. Dejan Korutovic had 23 to lead Alba, while Alexis finished with 18 and Marko Pesic 14.

Playing for his injured partner Phelps too, Alexis did his best to keep Alba Berlin alive after a close first quarter. The veteran forward performed like a teenager, scoring 11 points in the first 10 minutes, while Ford was stuck at 6 points, due to the defense of Stefano Garris and Jorg Lutcke. Olympiakos found offensive solutions, however, and led the game during the whole first period to the end (20-17). James Forrest and Alexei Savrasenko scored 6 and 5 points respectively. On the other side, only Marco Pesic helped Alexis, scoring a three-pointer.

The second quarter belonged to Alphonso Ford, as the Euroleague scoring superstar added 9 points to his 6 from the first ten minutes. Still, five minutes before halftime, Dejan Koturovic had given the Germans a one-point lead 29-30 for the first time since the beginning of the game. Alexis - so good as old wine, someone said - helped his team escape by three points, 29-32. Then both Alexis and Forrest committed their third fouls, so when they were substituted, Olympiakos took the lead back and, with Ford's steady hand, managed to improve it to eight points, 44-36 late in the quarter before entering the lockerroom with a six-points lead, 44-38. Milan Tomic and Dimitris Papanikolaou scored 5 points each. Alexis had 18 points and Koturovic 6 points for Alba.

Rarely does one player have such a definitive affect in the Euroleague, but at the moment that Wendell Alexis was fouled out, six minutes before the end of the third quarter, the game was over for Alba Berlin. Olympiakos was hot in the first minutes, as Ford and Stefan Risacher pushed the lead to 15 points, 53-48, in the first two minutes after the half. But then when Alexis got hit with fifth foul, a suspect blocking call, Alba sank. Soon, with Milan Tomic organized the game perfectly, the Reds reached a 19-point lead against an Alexis-less Alba (63-44, three minutes before the end of the third period). Koturovic managed to cut the margin to 15 points (67-52), but the third quarter buzzer found Olympiakos leading the game by 17 points, 71-54. The handwriting was on the wall then, and it showed Olympiakos almost assured of advancing to the Top 16 and Alba in the opposite circumstance.
Wednesday, December 19, 2001
Kostas Sotiriou, Athens
No results found.
Referees: SUDEK, PETR; MUHVIC, DUBRAVKO; LICINA, MIODRAG
Attendance: 2000
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos20242720
Alba Berlin17211621
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos20447191
Alba Berlin17385475
Olympiacos
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 BOUNTOURIS, NIKOLAOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 DORKOFIKIS, PERIKLIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6 PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS 10:57   0/2             1 1       1 -1
7 PAPANIKOLAOU, DIMITRIOS 13:52 5 2/3 0/1 1/2   1 1     1       1 3
8 SAVRASENKO, ALEKSEY 18:20 11 5/5   1/2 2 4 6 1 1 3 2   3 2 16
9 RISACHER, STEPHANE 29:14 14 3/5 2/5 2/2 1 5 6 2 1 1 1   4 3 17
10 FORD, ALPHONSO 36:41 28 6/10 2/5 10/10 1 3 4 4   1   1 2 8 33
11 TOMIC, MILAN 25:32 11 1/3 2/7 3/4   3 3 4   1     3 4 10
12 NIKAGBATSE, MISAN 3:44                         1   -1
13 FEMERLING, PATRICK 21:40 4 2/4     3 3 6   1 3     3 1 4
14 FORREST, JAMES 27:14 14 4/9   6/6 2 3 5 1 1 1     4 5 16
15 DE MIGUEL, IGNACIO 12:46 4 1/1   2/4   5 5 1 1 1     4 3 7
Team           1 3 4               4
Totals 200:00 91 24/42 6/18 25/30 10 30 40 13 6 13 3 1 24 28 108
        57.1% 33.3% 83.3%
Head coach: ZOUROS, ILIAS
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
Alba Berlin
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 RODL, HENRIK 32:22 4 2/4 0/3   1 2 3 2 1 2   1 2    
5 LUTCKE, JORG 23:34 5 2/4 0/2 1/2 2 1 3           5 1 -1
6 SCHULTZE, SVEN 7:56   0/2 0/2   2   2           3 1 -4
7 PESIC, MARKO 34:52 14 4/9 1/5 3/4   5 5 2   1   2 4 4 8
9 OZTURK, TEOMAN 21:29 8 4/6 0/3   1 4 5 1 2 2     2 1 8
10 KOTUROVIC, DEJAN 33:20 23 9/15   5/8 2 5 7 2 1 3     4 7 24
11 GARRIS, STEFANO 21:34 3 0/2 0/3 3/4       1 1 1     1 4 1
12 ALEXIS, WENDELL 16:28 18 5/6 2/2 2/3 1 3 4 1 2 4 1   5 6 21
13 THORWARTH, TOMMY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 PAPIC, STIPO 0:47                         1   -1
15 DEMIREL, MITHAT 7:38     0/1                   1   -2
Team           3 1 4               4
Totals 200:00 75 26/48 3/21 14/21 12 21 33 9 7 13 1 3 28 24 58
        54.2% 14.3% 66.7%
Head coach: MUTAPCIC, EMIR
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

ZOUROS, ILIAS
Olympiacos
"I keep saying that Group A is the hardest in the Euroleague, because all the teams are competitive and can beat anyone. I am glad that we could win a game with a high score, maybe we will need it in the future. I think that my players did exactly what they were told in the practice and they deserve to be congratulated for controlling the rhythm and having a perfect offensive balance. As for Milan Tomic, he was very good tonight, that¿s why Theodore Papaloukas played only for 11 minutes. Olympiakos has many good players. I think there's a long way to the end of the regular season, so we have to stay focused and concentrated to accomplish our difficult mission".
MUTAPCIC, EMIR
Alba Berlin
"Well, it was a very tough game against a very competitive team in a hot arena. We missed our basic point guard Derrick Phelps and our best player Wendell Alexis, who is used to play during the 40 minutes, played only for 16 minutes and then was fouled out. Olympiakos scored 10 straight points with consecutive fast breaks and that made us lose control. In my opinion our Group is the hardest in the Euroleague and I could say that Maccabi Tel Aviv and Olympiakos are the favorites for the two top spots".

Players

FORD, ALPHONSO
Olympiacos
"We played a really good game, especially in defense, where we played hard during most of the game. We knew that Alba is a great team and I have to admit that this win makes me very proud, cause we managed to accomplish all our practice plans. Our best effort came in the third quarter, as we stepped on the gas taking a 15-point lead, which was enough to assure our sixth win."
PESIC, MARKO
Alba Berlin
"I think we lost the game in the first two minutes of the second half. We played with no concentration at all and let Olympiakos get a 15-point lead, so it was impossible for us to come back and fight for the win. I would say that we missed Wendell Alexis, who got an unbelievable fifth foul and was out for the rest of the 24 minutes, but Dejan Koturovic helped us a lot under the boards. I will only remember our effort in the first half, when we performed well keeping the score close".
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