2001-02Regular SeasonRound 1
October 10, 2001 CET: 18:00
Local time: 18:00 GLIFADA "MAKIS LIOUGAS" SPORTSHALL

Alphonso Ford, the leading scorer from last season, put up 28 points to lead Olympiakos of Greece to an 87-72 home win in its Euroleague opener agianst Efes Pilsen. Ford and his partner, James Forrest, were the stars, but they got a lot of help from Theodore Papaloukas, Alexis Savrasenko and Stephane Risacher in helping Olympiakos defend its new home court. Efes showed some fight in coming back from early deficits to contest the lead. As such, it still cannot be underestimated in tough Group A.

Ford and Forrest gave the big push as Olympiakos got off to a great start, taking a 15-point lead, 21-6, over the first six minutes. Alexis Sevrasenko and Stephane Risasher, who was doubtful to start, came up big too. The Efes players didn't seem to know what hit them. Only Mehmet Okur and Saulius Stombergas could find their the way to the Olympiakos basket and two free throws by Peker made the turkish points 11! Olympiakos seemed to be in a great night leading by 14 at the end of first period (25-11).

In the second quarter, Omer Onan made the game interesting by hitting two three-pointers in a row to complete an Efes turnaroundn to within 33-25. Efes started finding solutions in the offense, Marcus Brown and Mehmet Okur hit some imporant shots, and the Turkish team closed the gap to five points, 37-32, two minutes before the half. The Olympiakos defense flagged noticeable, as did point guard Thodoris Papaloukas's control of his team's rhythm. Efes looked to be coming back to stay. Finally, Brown dunked spectaculary over Savrasenko to close the first half at 42-36. Efes had gotten everything back - wits, pride, confidence - except the lead.

Starting the third quarter, Efes coach Oktay Mahmuti used three short guards (Brown, Onan and Karem Tunceri) to cut the defecit to its smallest thusfar, 44-41. At that moment, Ford proved why he is one of the best scorers in Europe. The 29-year-old shoting guard hit crucial baskets ain an 8-0 run that put Olympiakos back up 11, 52-41. Coach Ilias Zouros used his own three-guard lineup, with Ford, Milan Tomic and Eyinmisan Nikagbatze, which helped expand the lead further, to double digits again, 67-57. Even if Olympiakos didn't play that great, it was much better than Efes Pilsen. Ford, Forrest and Risacher executed pefectly, Papaloukas was very clever organizing the game and Savrasenko was decent in his duties. On the other hand, Kaspars Kampala and Saulius Stombergas were 'absent' for Efes, looking as thoughh they need time to adjust in their new team. As the difference raised to 15 points, 77-62, Olympiakos took the rest of the game in stride, knowing it can play much better, as can Efes.

Wednesday, October 10, 2001
K.S., Athens
No results found.
Referees: JUNGEBRAND, CARL; REATTO, MARCELLO; JOVCIC, MILIVOJE
Attendance: 1400
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos25172520
Efes Pilsen11252115
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos25426787
Efes Pilsen11365772
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 JELIC, DUSAN 5:53 4 2/3     1 2 3     1     2   3
6 PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS 30:26 2 1/2 0/3   2 4 6 10 1 4     3   8
7 PAPANIKOLAOU, DIMITRIOS 13:42 4 2/4       1 1 1       1     3
8 SAVRASENKO, ALEKSEY 28:25 15 5/6   5/9 4 8 12     2 4   4   20
9 RISACHER, STEPHANE 30:56 13 3/3 2/3 1/1 1 2 3 2   2     3   12
10 FORD, ALPHONSO 31:39 28 9/11 2/4 4/7 1 2 3 1 1 2 1   2   23
11 TOMIC, MILAN 11:23 2 1/3 0/1     1 1     1     2   -3
12 NIKAGBATSE, MISAN 1:54   0/1                   1 1   -3
13 EKIM, EMRE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 FORREST, JAMES 34:25 17 7/12   3/5 1 7 8 2     1   4   17
15 DE MIGUEL, IGNACIO 11:17 2 0/2   2/4 1 3 4 1       1 4   -2
Team                                
Totals 200:00 87 30/47 4/11 15/26 11 30 41 17 2 12 6 3 25 0 78
        63.8% 36.4% 57.7%
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
Efes Pilsen
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 ARSLAN, ENDER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 BROWN, MARCUS 40:00 16 4/6 1/5 5/6 1 3 4 4   2     3   12
6 ONAN, OMER 32:31 15 4/7 2/6 1/2 1 1 2     1     4   4
7 STOMBERGAS, SAULIUS 12:57 2 0/4 0/2 2/2 4 1 5   1 2   3 4   -7
8 EKMEN, ENVER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 VEKILOGLU, ARDA 6:47 3 1/2   1/2 1   1               2
10 TUNCERI, KEREM 32:00 6 3/5 0/4         2 2 1   1 1   1
11 YILMAZ, ALPER 2:32   0/1                     2   -3
12 OZKAN, HASAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 OKUR, MEHMET 33:13 17 3/11 3/6 2/4 6 4 10 1   1 1   4   11
14 PEKER, KAYA 6:55 3 1/2   1/1 1   1               3
15 KAMBALA, KASPARS 33:05 10 4/8   2/2   5 5 1     2 2 4   8
Team                                
Totals 200:00 72 20/46 6/23 14/19 14 14 28 8 3 7 3 6 22 0 31
        43.5% 26.1% 73.7%
Head coach: MAHMUTI, OKTAY
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

ZOUROS, ILIAS
Olympiacos
"That was a great start for my team. We played against a very good team with big European experience and we managed to get two very important points. This Euroleague is like a marathon and all the matches are crucial. That's why I am satisfied. We had a little problem with the 15 offensive rebounds that we lost, but we played really hard on defense and we ran the fastbreaks in a proper way. Because of many injuries, we lost our rhythm when I was doing the substitutions. There are several players who need time to get their shape back and when this thing happens, I will be able to say that Olympiakos is functioning perfectly."
MAHMUTI, OKTAY
Efes Pilsen
"I can't say many things about the game. At the moment that we came close, within three point, 44-41, we made silly mistakes and we lost some important rebounds. I think that some of my players had zero to offer! I hope that next time we will show more passion and desire to win."

Players

PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS
Olympiacos
"Well, this victory is very important for Olympiakos, but the most important thing is that Milan Tomic returned to our game. As for my performance, I don't care that I scored only two points, because as the Americans say, I tried to make my teammates happy, giving 10 assists. My personal record is 11 assists, but I think that I will break it soon."
FORD, ALPHONSO
Olympiacos
"We are very glad that we started the season with a great victory. We played really hard defense and we managed to stop all the offensive weapons of our opponent, like Brown and Stombergas. The reason that I am very satisfied by my team's effort is that it's very early to play the perfect basketball, but we realised that every game is important and we gave our best to win. I respect all the teams of our group, they all are very dangerous. I know that Olympiakos is not ready yet, but we are working hard, in order to play the fast and spectacular game that we dream of. At the end, I would like to thank the fans who came to Glyfada and helped us perform well."
No results found.