Thrylos showed the character of a truly big team in the city of Istanbul tonight, overcoming Fenerbahce by 65 points to 80. After the game, Olympiakos finished first in the group and will have the advantage of home in the playoffs for the Euroleague. Erceg and Spanoulis showed themselves incredible tonight whilst Gordon, Mavrokefalidis, Papaloukas and Nesterovic played well.

Olympiakos started the game with a pentad of Teodosic, Spanoulis, Papanikolaou, Erceg and Mavrokefalidis and we played an exceptional defensive game in the opening 5 minutes of the match. In the attack, Spanoulis, Erceg and Mavrokefalidis all made good work in the attack and so we were 13-6 up before long. The Turkish side improved their defence though and with some individual plays from their players decreased the score to 15-14. Erceg and Spanoulis again took the lead with a 5 point break and brought up the difference to +6 points (20-14) but we ended up slipping back and finishing the first period barely ahead 20-18.

Dusan Ivkovic saw that Teodosic was not having a good evening and so various players were tried in his place along with giving Spanoulis and Erceg a rest. The ganme was tied for points right on the ten minute time but Fenerbahce managed to grab a further two points to finish the first half 36-34 in front.

The second half started off reasonably well for our team again, Erceg scoring again to bring the score to 38-37 but we then allowed Fenerbahce to make a seven point break in the following two minutes and let them get 45-37 in front. This is simply because we had lost our concentration in both defence and attack. Papaloukas and Teodosic continued in the field for the time being with the result that one bad decision followed another on the court and the Turks increased their break to 11 points (49-37), five minutes before the end of the third period.

Six minutes had passed in the period before we woke up properly. The entrance of Gordon and Mavrokefalidis added some stability to our team and so we brought the score back to 51-45, two minutes before the end of the third period. Papaloukas and Erceg also now helped with the score and we ended up with a score of 55-54 at the end of the period.

In the last quarter, Gordon played an astonishing defence and he was matched in his excellent play by Mavrokefalidis and Papaloukas. These three players helped the team make an 8 point break so that we led once again 55-62, six minutes before the end of the game. Erceg continued with his play and shot two baskets to bring the score to +9 (57-66). Spanoulis then brought the score to +11 (64-75) with some amazing play in the final period. We tried to chase +14 and we finally managed this in the last minute of the game with a score of 65-80 (+15)


Fenerbahce Ulker 65-80 Olympiakos
1st Period : Fenerbahce Ulker 18-20 Olympiakos
2nd Period : Fenerbahce Ulker 36-34 Olympiakos
3rd Period : Fenerbahce Ulker 55-54 Olympiakos
4th Period : Fenerbahce Ulker 65-80 Olympiakos

Olympiakos (Ivkobic): Papaloukas 9, Nesterovic 16, Spanoulis 12, Pelikanos, Mavrokefalidis 16, Glyniadakis 2, Papanikolaou, Erceg 21, Teodosic 2, Gordon 2.

Despite an overwhelming support provided by the fans of the team, Olympiakos fell to a defeat to Turkish side Fenerbahce Ulker in the Euroleague game played last night. Our fans however provided an undying support for the team and showed that we have the best supporters of any team in Europe.



Another Olympiakos team seemed to be playing in the Peace and Friendship stadium (SEF) last night and not the one which we all know and love, this Olympiakos made a lot of errors and mistakes before losing the match with a 70-84 scoreline.
Olympiakos did not start the game particularly well and the players also seemed to be showing a lot of nerves. We started off well enough initially, getting to a 5-2 score but then allowed the Turks to get a 10 point break in two minutes and fell back 5-12. The entrance of Papaloukas seemed to help us out along with some inspired leadership from Duda, we managed to stabilise the score before if got out of hand.
With our defence now playing with a marked continuity and improvement, we managed to get in front at the end of the first period with an 18-16 scoreline. We improved this to a 6 point difference (22-16) during the second quarter before Fenerbahce broke back and leapt in front with a 27-33 score. Vasilis Spanoulis now showed his own ability and Olympiakos managed to get a 6 point break to tie the score at 33-33 as we went into halftime.

The Turkish side imposed themselves on us in the third quarter and initially led with 39-42 before we fought back to 43-42 some six minutes before the end of the third quarter. Fenerbahce again came at us gaining a minor points advantage (50-51) by the 28 minute mark. We did however manage to score two decent baskets from Halperin and Spanoulis with grab 5 points just a minute before the hooter which marked the end of the third quarter and us winning slightly at 58-55. The game was then set up for a dynamic last period...

The last quarter started off with a point-point scoring before the Turks started to get themselves together some five minutes before the end of the match (65-69). Olympiakos now showed their nerves and started to make mistake after mistake in the arena allowing Fenerbahce to get 8 points in front (65-73). We then totally collapsed and looked tragic in the remainder of the period, the Turks went ten points in front (68-78) before winning the match eventually 70-84.

Olympiakos 70-84 Fenerbahce Ulker
1st Quarter : Olympiakos 18-16 Fenerbahce
2nd Quarter : Olympiakos 33-33 Fenerbahce
3rd Quarter : Olympiakos 58-55 Fenerbahce
4th Quarter : Olympiakos 70-84 Fenerbahce

Olympiakos (Ivkovic): Papaloukas 15, Nesterovic 2, Spanoulis 14, Bourousis 7, Keselj, Pelikanos, Mavrokefalidis 4, Nielsen 2, Papanikolaou 4, Erceg 10, Teodosic 7, Halperin 5