bwin Monday Night Against Covid-19: Olympiacos – Larissa 89-61
In a game held at the SEF on Monday (08/02), in the framework of the “bwin Monday Night Against Covid-19” program, Olympiacos bested Larissa 89-61.
Vassilis Spanoulis, Giorgos Printezis, Kostas Sloukas, Kostas Papanikolaou and Sasha Vezenkov watched the game from the tribunes.
The quarters: 17-19, 48-33, 70-52, 89-61.
“Today is different and emotionally tough for the Club”, the coach of Olympiacos, Giorgos Bartzokas stated. “Everyone’s thoughts are with those lost at the Gate 7 tragedy and their families. May no team, no club, no family, ever again suffers through that kind of painful loss”.
About the friendly game: “It’s a good opportunity for us, to give minutes to the young guys that are with us and help us on a daily basis with practicing, but unfortunately, they, as well as the whole of Greek basketball, have been going for four months now without any games. Nikolaidis, Koloveros, Christidis, Skoulidas, they are getting better everyday at practice, but lack game rhythm. These games are a good chance for them to find one. We don’t have Euroleague games this week, we have a break and we need to use these friendly games to play better. Much better, if we take into account how we played against Panathinaikos. We hope to have Vezenkov back soon. He’s getting better each passing day and I hope he returns. The same is extremely doubtful for Pananikolaou though. They are very important players for us and we hope to have them back”.
Asked about the chances for qualification to the Euroleague playoffs, he replied: “We still have ten games to play and we are going to try and win the most we can. We are going to go after every game and we believe we have the team to strike against any team and in any court. Of course, we have also shown we can lose any game here, at home. The only thing we can do is to work and improve”.
Finally, commenting about the extension of Shaquielle McKissic’s contract, he said: “Olympiacos had been changing coaches and players in the past few years. I had read about 28 different foreign players at that time. At this level, you cannot build an effective team, if you can’t come up with an effective core. With our program, we can gradually do that. We have brought back Sloukas, who is a very important player for us, Vezenkov has a very important role, Papanikolaou who is out and McKissic who will be staying for a third or even a fourth season with Olympiacos. He has proved with his attitude both on the court and in the locker rooms that he deserves being here”.