Dinamo Tbilisi, trained by Irakli Khoshtaria, won the second match of the Super League quarter-finals 70:60 against Olimpi and went through the semi-finals, which means, Olimpi finished the season. Although Leonid Ivatin’s team has resisted Dinamo, they did not play well in the decisive moment and finally, lost 0:1 in the quarter-final series.
Unlike the first match of the series, today’s meeting was more interesting. Olimpi won the first (15:11) and the second (19:16) quarters and had a 7-points advantage before the big break. The basis for the success of the Olympians was aggressive defense and fast attacks. Dinamo’s coaching staff made the correct conclusions on the big break and the current champions started playing differently after returning to the court. They reduced the difference in about 2-minutes and gained the 4-points lead in remaining time of the 3rd period – 51:47. Dinamo increased the advantage in the decisive period to 10 points and finally, won the game.
Nodar Gogodze led the winners with 18 points. Ilia Londaridze scored 15 points and 8 rebounds. Lavell Boyd had 12 points. Mark Ogden was the most effective with 19 points in Olimpi. Rezo Rogava scored 11 points. Morris Hill had a double-double – 10 points, 10 rebounds.
Irakli Khoshtaria – Dinamo head coach:
“It is good that after unstable regular championship we managed to play more or less stable. The result is satisfing, but now we think about the next stage – semi-final and it is very important for each player to understand, that nothing is decided yet. We have just started and I hope, we will continue this way. We have time to restore forces and wait for the opponent.”
Davit Rogava – Olimpi coach:
“It’s a pity that the season has finished for us so soon. This season was special for Olimpi, because a really special group was created and I think, that the coaching staff made a mistake at some point. But this is a sport, everything goes on and our organization will have other goals for the next season.”
