The first matchday of the 2013-14 season is just completed, but the spotlights were turned upon the biggest rival of the league between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos.Read the full matchday round-up below.
Olympiacos-Panathinaikos 55-45
The draw of the championship had a surprise since the two rivals met each other soon enough, only in the first match of the season.The two teams were clearly not ready and the players didn’t manage to play good basketball, as they use to, because the chemistry of the two top clubs is still building. The first half was a very tight one, the rivals focused on their defense, not allowing the opponent to have open shots, the highlights were few, but as long as tactics concern, the two coaches Mr. Bartzokas and Mr. Pedoulakis gave their best trying to equal the lack of teamwork their squads had at this point of the season. Panathinaikos dominated the rebounds but Lojeski was solid for Olympiacos, scoring crucial points and commiting no mistakes. Batiste, Lasme and Maurokefalides quickly got benched due to foul problems, but the tactic the coach followed by, the zone defense, helped the team stay close to the “Reds”
During the second half Diamantidis fired up, leading the comeback for the Greek champions, but Olympiacos was concentrated, defended well inside the paint, took advantage of the many missed shots from the green team, and almost one minute before the end of the game, secured the victory.Both teams looked very weak but both coaches insisted their fans to be patient, because there are many new additions to their plays and time is required for the players to show their skills and the training to pay off.
Panelefsiniakos-Panionios 72-74
Panelefsiniakos hosted Panionios to the opening day of the season hoping to repeat their last year’s success again coach Sfairopoulos’ team.However Panionios was solid on the defensive side of the court, forcing many mistakes for Panelefsiniakos.However offensively during the first half, Panionios was not good, and as a result the home team managed to keep up without any big lead for the “Red and Blue”. Elefsina even mangaed to score a 6-0 run at the end of the half. going to the locker rooms with a +3.
The second half was way better and more interesting with Panionios managing to overcome the offensive blackout the had during second quarter, and with McCollum scoring a total of 21 points leading the offense, the away team escaped Elefsina since Nikou didn’t hit the 3-point shot at the end of the game.McColloum and Batis were the best players for Panionios who seemed to be having problems inside the paint again, while on the other side Elefsina had Nikou in a great day, but that was not enough.
Apollon Patras- Ilisiakos 80-65
Apollon Patron, in his second year in A1, hopes to make an equally good season as the last one, when he managed to promote to the playoffs. According to their first match “Melanoleukoi” seemed to be in good shape.Nikos Vetoulas’ team started strong with a 7-0 run and Ilisiakos never managed to catch up.Apollon was careful offensively and with good choices managed to maintain the difference to up to ten points all through the game.Jeremy Wilson was the MVP for Apollon scoring 19 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. On the other side Ilisiakos was weak, unable to threaten the home team inside the paint and making many turnovers that lead to easy fastbreak points for the opponent. Periklis Dorkofikis was the only decent performer for Ilisiakos scoring 16 points.
A.G.O. Rethimnou-Ikaros Chalkidas 82-77
In one of the most interesting and intense games of the weekend, AGOR managed to overcome Ikaros’ resistance in a match where both teams gave their best, earning a standing ovation from the fans at the end. The key stat of the game was the rebound total, since AGOR dominated 38-27, scoring many second chance points. Hart and Pruitt were the best players for AGOR who had a very good start at the game, forcing their fast-paced tempo, but Ikaros found the way way to hold on to the game, hitting a stunning total of 12/22 3-point shots.
Throughout the game AGOR was taking the lead, ending the half up by 11 points but Ikaros was always finding a way to keep up, by either zoning defensively or hitting open shots. AGOR managed to take an 8-point lead with 90 seconds left. Ikaros didn’t manage to return to the game for fourth time and the Cretan team got away with the first win of the season. Borovniak was the best player for the away side scoring 6 points 2/2 3-pointers but was the key defender for his team.
KAO Dramas-ARIS 66-58
Aris seemed to be in a good form after promoting to the Cup semi-finals against rival PAOK, and there was no better way to continue the streak than winning KAOD away from home. Aris defended very well for another game, dominated the boards and managed to walk away with the win. The first half was very close, with both teams running 5 or 6-point runs the one after the other making the game unpredictable but KAOD’s players’ energy allowed them to end the half being in front 33-28. However Aris’ bench depth made the difference during the second half, but the key point was the 16-6 run “Kitrinomauroi” had at the beginning of the second half. After that KAOD stayed close but Aris was up front all the time securing the win quite easily. Pelekanos was man of the match with 15 points. For KAOD, Nenad Markovic, who seemed to be satisfied from the passion his players had, Chrisikopoulos was the one leading the way.
PAOK-Kolossos Rhodes 88-81
Charalambidis seems to be in great shape, leading PAOK to the win against the well balanced Kolossos Rhodes team, leaving behind the bad game the team had against Aris for the cup.Paok was strong offensively, making few turnovers, however their defence was not as good as it was against Aris, giving the away team the chance to keep up but never threatening the home team.”Dikefalos” was very solid in the paint and from mid-range, successfully overcoming Kolossos zone-defense. Kolossos was all the time trying to catch PAOK,never managing it and finally PAOK’s domination was way easier that the final score shows in a game with good pace and loose defences leading to a very satisfying match for the fans of the sport.
Trikala-A.E. Nea Kifissia 64-69
Kifissia debuted the Greek season with a historic win against Trikala, in an exciting match.Trikala started the game being more concentrated with Evans performing strongly for the home team, but soon Kifissia managed to step up, overcoming the bad start (7 turnovers against 3 for Trikala), dominated the boards, and as a result the first half ended 33-38 for them.The second half started with Trikala completing a 14-4 run overtaking Kifissia, but Ilias Papatheodorou’s team took advantage of the bad defence Trikala played and brought the match even.Despite Tsaldaris’ consecutive missed shots from behind the 3point lane, the home team seemed to be out of energy and finally Tsaldaris sealed the deal with a 3point shot 15 seconds before the buzzer.Kifissia had Liakopoulos in a great day and showed that this team has good potential to avoid relegation this season.
