Aris 90, Maroussi 69

Hmm. Looking for interesting things to write about this one. Aris defeated Maroussi 90-69. It was close in the first half, then Aris pulled away. Eh. Six Aris players scored in double figures. OK. And four in double figures for Maroussi (1-21). Blah.

Well, I did notice that Aris coach Vangelis Alexandris went ballistic several times. That’s kind of a trend here, where many coaches receive Messiah-like respect from fan bases and media. Alexandris coached Maroussi to its Saporta Cup (now called Eurocup) victory in 2001.

But still, it’s frustrating to see coaches lose their cool and yank a player off the court for daring to be just a little bit creative. Be a robot or you sit. For example, Sergio Kerusch had the ball and backed his defender toward the basket. He made a nice turn into the lane, went up and missed the shot. Ok, he should have sank it. But it was a good move. And apparently it wasn’t in the script. Alexandris immediately yanked him.

Discipline and team play are important. But when players are literally looking over their shoulders after every play to see if they’ll be benched or yelled at, it stifles the creativity coaches pray for when their teams are losing by 12 points in the fourth quarter to Panathinaikos or Olympiakos. Just sayin’.

Ok, so back to the game. Aris led 44-39 at the half. Prodromos Nikolaidis scored 17 of his game-high 21 points in the first half for Maroussi. But the Thessaloniki crew clamped down defensively in the third quarter, and Dan Mavraides hit a couple of 3-pointers to give Aris some space. Princeton alum Mavraides had all 10 of his points in the second half.

Christos Tapoutos led Aris with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Ronald Davis chipped in with 12 points and 7 rebounds. Aris connected on 10 of 20 3-point attempts. Sam Muldrow (South Carolina) had 7 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.

For Maroussi, Giannis Demertzis recorded 11 points, 6 assists and 4 steals. Seventeen-year-old center Lampros Tsontzos scored 10 points on 5 of 8 shooting. Andreas Kanonidis contributed 11 points off the bench, including two 3-pointers that kept Maroussi fairly close in the second half.

Aris (10-12) has won four consecutive games.

Coach: Victory for players, family

Nikos Linardos

Maroussi coach Nikos Linardos dedicated his team’s 58-52 road victory over Peristeri to his players and family.

“It’s a very nice feeling, especially for the kids, for the assistant coaches, the trainers and my family,” he said after the post-game press conference.

At 1-18, once-proud Maroussi is sure to be relegated to a lower division next season. Ownership simply stopped paying bills. Former players are still owed money. Four veterans, frustrated by late paychecks, recently left the team. It’s a sad fall for a team that spent the past decade competing with league powerhouses Panathinaikos and Olympiakos.

Giannis Demertzis, a Maroussi guard, said: “We play just for us now.”

Peristeri coach Argiris Pedoulakis said Maroussi deserved the victory because they fought harder. He said Maroussi’s young players are seizing their opportunities to showcase their skills, and that Peristeri’s youngsters should learn from the example.

Like Maroussi, Peristeri has serious financial problems and has seen top players depart, although it still has American import Gavin Edwards and Greek scorer Charalampos Giannopoulos.

Coaches and players around the league understand Maroussi’s situation. They’ve credited Linardos and the players for fighting through the troubles this season.

Last night, Greek league leading scorer Dionte Christmas took note of Maroussi’s big win. The Temple alum plays for Rethymno, which defeated Maroussi 92-80 last week.

Christmas tweeted a shout-out “to Maroussi finally getting their first win of the season. I knew they would get 1.”

Can Maroussi stop Christmas?

Let’s see. Looks like engineers and lawyers are on strike (http://livingingreece.gr/strikes/), but not pilots and air traffic controllers. So, Maroussi’s opponent tomorrow — Rethymno — should arrive as planned in Athens sometime today from the island of Crete.

Maroussi players celebrating back in '01

That’s bad news for winless Maroussi, of course, because now they’ll have to face Dionte Christmas and Company tomorrow afternoon. Temple alum Christmas enters the game as the Greek league’s leading scorer (19.4 ppg). Maroussi’s Nestoras Kommatos (20.4 ppg) held that title until yesterday, when he signed with a team in Italy. Christmas, who played briefly in 2009 for the Philadelphia 76ers, scored a season high 41 points against league-leading Olympiakos.

The departure of Kommatos (see ‘Arrivederci’ post) means we won’t get to see what all of Athens — ok, me — has been buzzing about: a Larry Bird–Dominique Wilkins ’88 Game 7 style shootout between the league’s top scorers. (I just went to youtube and watched a 10-minute clip of that game. Good times, good times — and RIP Reggie Lewis and DJ).

Ok, so what will we see? Probably some insane dunks from Brent Petway of Michigan and Harlem Globetrotters fame. Christmas will hit some threes (he’s shooting 38 percent from out there), and point guard Zack Wright will do a little bit of everything. Wright’s efficient play has earned him five player of the week honors this season. The 6-2 Wright is the team’s leading rebounder (5.3 rpg) and he can throw down dunks, as well.

In a win last week, Christmas and Wright combined for 12 steals. Maroussi’s ball handlers, Lefteris Akepsimaidis and Giannis Demertzis, will need to be extra careful.

Since Kommatos left the building, cash-strapped Maroussi has just four professional players remaining on its roster.

The team had used teenagers from its junior squad to fill in gaps earlier this season, but now the kids are being asked to play significant minutes. Most of them are just 17 years old.

On the bright side, their two young centers Lampros Tsontzos and Dimitrios Agravanis are both 6-10. Realistically, Rethymno (10-7) should have the game wrapped up by halftime. What I would do, though, is start both Tsontzos and Agravanis, feed them the ball and encourage them to shoot literally every time they touch the ball. They’ve been playing pass-first with Kommatos on the floor.

If the two big kids can draw some attention, maybe 3-point specialist Prodromos Nikolaidis will find some room. Under pressure last week, Nikolaidis went 0-for-3.

Oh, and they should empty the bench to use up all of their fouls. Rethymno isn’t great from the foul line: Christmas and Petway, both 70 percent average, and Wright’s average is 59.4 percent.

Just thinking out loud.