Bartzokas and Canaan about Zalgiris
Olympiacos will be playing against Zalgiris in Kaunas tomorrow (01/03, 19:00 CET), without Nigel Williams-Goss, Giannoulis Larentzakis and Naz Mitrou-Long who have all suffered injuries.
"Zalgiris is in fantastic shape", the 'red & whites' coach, Giorgos Bartzokas said in his initial statement, before adding: "In the three last games they played in their gym, they beat Fenerbahce, Anadolu Efes and Panathinaikos. They beat Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade and they prove to be a very good team. What we need is following a period of 20 days without Euroleague games, due to National Cup games and the FIBA windows for the National teams, to see in what shape we are in. Noone knows what to expect. I personally don't know what to expect either from our team or the opponents".
Talking about the break period, he said: "The three days following the Greek Cup Final 8 were very important in terms of resting. Adrenaline was pouring from our ... ears after so many games. National Teams' players though are a totally different category. They played more games, they got injured. We lost Larentzakis and Mitrou-Long and that's something that hurts us. Plus, the fact that Goss was already injured. Right now, we have faith in our team, we believe we are getting better, we are at a point we have played some good games. I repeat that Zalgiris is a team that is in good shape and they aim to qualify for the playoffs. They fight and they are totally different from who they used to be 3 or 4 months ago. Their rotation has differentiated. They are very aggressive on the ball; they play with intensity and physicality. If you see the games they have won, their opponents never actually matched their aggressiveness or contact game. So, if for some reason you are not ready, you lose".
On his part, Isaiah Canaan pointed out that: "Our opponent is in good shape. They are a team that always plays well at home and it's only certain it's not going to be an easy game for us. We must play good team defense and protect the ball. We must also contain secondary offensive plays by our opponent, dominating the rebounds. Rebounding is always the key. We must execute well and protect the ball".