Bartzokas: “The game against Bayern is going to be very difficult”

Giorgos Bartzokas deems the game against Bayern Munich for the 3rd day of the Euroleague as especially difficult.

The coach of the Back2Back Champion of Europe said that “after our game in Istanbul and our important victory there, we have the game against Bayern Munich that is the only undefeated team in our group alongside us. They also haven’t lost any games for the German League. Our task tomorrow is very difficult. It is our principal that we don’t underestimate any opponent and we are getting ready for a difficult game. Bayern plays with energy; they have the seal of a very experienced and recognized coach. They have a very full roster, all the players play, they all have a role and we expect a very tough evening. We are getting better and better, we have really pushed the team, we have had three practices in a 27 hours span”.

In regard to the health of Begic and Petway, the Greek coach said that “Begic participates the program all the way. Unfortunately, Petway got injured the day before and although it originally seemed like he misses the game, he’s rapidly improving. His body heals quickly and it happened before only days ago. If he’s OK tomorrow morning, he’s going to make the final 12. Begic is not absolutely ready, but he’s very useful to us with his quality and experience”.

Bartzokas then said about the game against the German team that “many say that it is a game between the European Basketball Champions and European Football Champions, thankfully we are playing basketball because if it was for football I guess we would be having a problem. They have Mr. Hoeness and a big budget, they have excellent organization and my feeling is that in the next years Bayern will be considered among Euroleague title contesters. They are the team with best international German players, they signed four excellent players from Alba, the best players from Alba and they have very good Americans. The rebounding stats, although accurate, does not completely reflect the picture. Bayern plays quite fast and thus challenges more balls. They are definitely a good team, with big bodies. They have many players who play these positions and they are athletic in the perimeter. We try to involve as many players as possible with rebounding. Our tall guys are really good into blocking shots, so rebounding is actually off rotation many times. It’s an area that we see a lot of improvement and I hope we don’t have a problem. I think that we had talked about how the team plays during a Press Conference at home and away and I had told you that there is a lot of coiling when we play on the road. We were playing in a very tough court, but we were really focused. Some talked about lack of concentration in the third quarter, I say that there are always ups and downs and there are going to be until the end of the season. At this level, no team can play at the same tempo for 40 minutes. I think we are at a good level, better than at the beginning of the season. Schaffartzik, who is an executioner for the National German team, has a more creative role with Bayern. Delaney also passes very well. Generally, they are a team that has the coaches’ signature, they are a team that wants to play as whole and that’s why they are winning. They are quite difficult, a good team, they can cause a lot of problems to its opponent in offense. There are the examples of Holden, Batiste, Lojeski. Sometimes you start from the difficult parts and it takes you some time to find your way, which only makes you tougher. Delaney played a very good year in Ukraine and we had looked into him at some point and he’s certainly a high level player with good technic. We were missing Begic at first and the way we play there is going to be wear. When Begic gets incorporated again we are going to be more relaxed, when Begic was out we were facing foul trouble. On the other hand though, they are not selfish enough to protect themselves and stay in the game and this is something we all need to appreciate. I see them working at practice and I’m completely at ease with the choices we have made. They’ve been working well, only sometimes when you get quickly into foul trouble, it’s hard getting back into rhythm».