Vassilis Spanoulis (GRE)
17/10/2014
League
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Spanoulis and Sloukas shine in Greek drama

VALENCIA (Euroleague) - Vassilis Spanoulis and Kostas Sloukas have played in so many big games in their careers that nothing seems to faze them.

The fabulous Greeks were in the Olympiacos side that won Turkish Airlines Euroleague titles in 2012 and 2013, and already they are taking center stage in the competition this season.

Each had to be at his best on Thursday to help Olympiacos win a 71-68 thriller at Valencia Basket on the opening night of Group D action.

A contest that was played in front of a raucous crowd in a packed La Fonteta saw Valencia, last season's Eurocup winners, come up just short of a famous victory.

Spanoulis and Sloukas were involved in two of the most decisive moments.

Trailing 62-58 with less than five minutes remaining, Olympiacos got a three-point play from Spanoulis.

The veteran drove to the right of the lane, drew contact from Serhiy Lishchuk and banked in a very tough shot over the Valencia center.

He then sank the free-throw to reduce the deficit to just one.

Spanoulis would go on to have a game-high 21 points.

Sloukas, one of Greece's guards at the FIBA Basketball World Cup, finished with 14 points.

Three of his most important came at the free-throw line in the last six seconds.

With Valencia playing intense, frenetic defense, Vladimir Lucic reached in and was called for a foul on Sloukas.

The playmaker made the first free-throw but missed the second, only for Romain Sato to lose control of the rebound for Valencia.

Instead, the ball went off Sato's hand and the alert Sloukas grabbed it before being fouled again.

This time, he sank both attempts from the foul line for a three-point lead.

Spanoulis next fouled Sam Van Rossom before the Valencia point guard reached mid-court to prevent him from attempting a three-pointer.

After Van Rossom was off target with his first free-throw, he intentionally missed the second.

The ball ended up behind the arc but Valencia weren't able to gain possession and attempt a potential game-tying shot.

Milan Tomic coached his first Euroleague game for Olympiacos following the resignation of Georgios Bartzokas and got a famous win.

He felt that overall, the Reds had executed their game-plan.

"If we wanted to control the tempo of the game, we had to control the boards, go for offensive rebounds and spend our fouls wisely until reaching the penalty," he said.

"We did a great job. I don't remember now, but Valencia maybe scored one or two fast breaks in the entire game, and this is a team that likes to run a lot and even takes three-point shots in fast breaks."

FIBA