Bartzokas: «We need to be consistent for 40 minutes and we weren't»
In the Press Conference following the loss to Partizan in Belgrade (78-70), our team's coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, analyzed the reasons behind the result.
During his initial statement, the Greek coach said: "First of all, congratulations to Partizan, they fought for 40 minutes to get the win and took advantage of some problems we were having during the game in terms of execution. We were hasty... We were leading by 7 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and had to manage the lead to win the game. That is not 'selling' the ball out, protect it and make better decisions when executing. Of course, we also had to manage the absence of Moses Wright, of Sasha Vezenkov, while also Evan Fournier was doubtful to play up until the last minute, but these are not valid excuses. We controlled the tempo, the intensity, but we need to be consistent for 40 minutes and we weren't that".
Asked by a reporter about the tension at the end of the game, he stressed that was an issue for the Euroleague to examine and explained that: "an assistant to Zeljko Obradovic was talking trash to us during the whole game and we exchanged words and then Jones attacked me. In addition, a fan came on the court from the stands and pushed me. So, that's not my business to look into that, there are other people responsible to do so".
In regard to the ups and downs in the performance of the team: "We had some issues, we did not have Vezenkov with us, Wright, we had foul troubles and of course, we are not invincible. We try to improve our game. We have had 6 consecutive wins, we rank 2nd seed, I don't think we have an issue right now, we just need to keep on doing our job".
As for the reasons for the loss: "We are in Serbia and everyone understands basketball here. In a game with such physicality, so much tension, some times it's only a matter of a couple of decisions. You make some big shots and you dominate your opponent's psychology, or you don't make some easy shots and Partizan takes advantage and strikes in the transition. Or you don't get the defensive rebounds and Partizan has second chances. That's basketball, a game of errors. The fans helped Partizan as always and they fought to the end, we must respect that".