The first match of the David Blatt era was the best that Aris has played this season. The “yellows” won Olympiacos 93-83 (half-time: 44-38) and sent out a promising message, despite of being eliminated from the Hellenic Cup final. Under the guidance of the American-Israeli coach, the team performed great, having Jeremy Richardson as the top scorer, with 30 points (4/4 FT, 3/3 2P., 6/10 3P.). Although in the end of this 2nd leg of the Hellenic Cup semifinals Aris couldn’t win by 15, in order to overcome the 14-point defeat (78-64) suffered in the 1st leg, one month ago in Piraeus, still the fans cheered the players, thus rewarding them for their effort.
Early in the match, Aris players had no easy job against Olympiacos, who took advantage of their big guys in attack (Kleiza, Schortsanitis and Bourousis scored 20 points in the 1st quarter among them) and led by 5-12 in minute 6. They even raised it to 9 points (11-20 in minute 8), but the “yellows” managed to reduce it before the end of the first period, during which they had no less than 6 turnovers.
However, the next quarter was a totally different story. David Blatt’s team has clear ideas, pushed more and ran at every opportunity. With 6:14 remaining for the half-time, Nikos Barlos made his comeback after 7 weeks of absence, due to the right hand fracture suffered in the game against Trikala, on November 28th. A little bit later Aris made it even (30-30) and right after that took the lead (33-30, with 4:47 remaining). The passion was unique and the defense was exceptional for the local team, which took full control of the game and quickly raised their advantage to 7 (39-32, 2:40 before half-time).
In the beginning of the third period, though, Olympiacos got stronger in defense and cut down Aris’s tempo. The visitors diminished the score difference and even took the lead again (49-51, with 4:12 remaining for the end of the quarter). Two consecutive three-pointers by Clark and Richardson helped the “yellows” recover (60-55), but Papaloukas paid back in the same way just before the buzzer.
The “reds” made a 0-8 run within 1.5 minute in the start of the fourth quarter and led by 63-66, but that was it. David Blatt’s players reacted in an astonishing way and thanks to their own 8-0 run they built a double-digit lead for the first time (80-70), with 4:30 remaining. The possibility of winning by 15 and making it to the final started to gain ground, when Dikoudis brought Aris up by 13 (88-75), just 1:42 before the end. Nevertheless, Olympiacos scored five in a row and despite Richardson made another three-point shot (93-81, with 20’’ remaining) the miracle didn’t happen. In the end, the visiting team celebrated for making it to the final, in which they will face Panathinaikos, on February 20th, but at the same time Aris had every right to leave the court full of pride -and the fans, who applauded their team, felt the same way. A new era has just begun.
Referees:Leonidas Spyridonos (Patras), Giorgos Tanatzis (Katerini), Christos Panagiotou (Patras).
Periods:17-22, 44-38 (half-time), 60-58, 93-83.
ARIS (David Blatt): Clark 11 (2), Miles 14, Betts 15, Richardson 30 (6), Chatzivrettas 2, Dikoudis 12 (2), Skordilis, Paunic 6 (1), Kakiouzis, Barlos 3 (1).
OLYMPIACOS (Panagiotis Yannakis): Papaloukas 16 (2), Penn 3 (1), Childress 9 (1), Vujcic 9, Bourousis 13, Halperin, Kleiza 12 (1), Mavrokefalidis 4, Vasilopoulos, Teodosic 11 (2), Schortsanitis 6.
