Bartzokas: «We must not think we're going to have an easy job»

Olympiacos' coach, Giorgos Bartzokas pointed out that his team must be focused, when asked about what it is they should do to beat Baskonia for the 11th Euroleague round (21/11, 20:15 CET).

During the media day preceding the game vs the Basques, the Greek coach talked about tomorrow's opponent: "Baskonia is a team with a very good coach, always plays up tempo and scores a lot. They've been dealing with some issues this season transitioning to a different playing style, mainly in defense... However, they rank 3rd defense wise in transitions they allow, which means they are a good team defense wise. We must stay extremely focused on our offensive plan, make quick decisions, move the ball the way we use to, go after defensive rebounds and hence control the game tempo through that procedure".

He went on to add: "For us, coming from five consecutive wins, the worse thing we can do is to have anyone on the team and the stands believe that we're going to have an easy job. We usually have problems with games like this, which was also obvious against Villeurbanne. The approach is very important for Euroleague games and we must realize the importance of the game. At this point in the season, having played almost 1/3 of the games, we must continue winning, playing better, improving in terms of physical shape but also in terms of executing on both ends of the floor. If we do these things, we have a good chance at winning, but this outcome is not pre-determined".

«We must show the necessary focus»

On his part, Giannoulis Larentzakis said among other things: "We want to continue with this momentum, right now our psychology is really good, we have been working well, we have gotten the results we were looking for and I believe that tomorrow we are going to come out as we should, focused and with the energy necessary for the game ahead".