Bartzokas: «Efes is an F4 team, we must win the game»
In the media day in view of the home game vs Anadolu Efes for the 24th round of the Euroleague, the coach of Olympiacos, Giorgos Bartzokas, talked about the recovery stage of his injured players that the team has had to deal with, as well as for the upcoming opponent, that has "a very good momentum" according to his statements.
He began with the following: "Efes' talent and the depth of their roster is at its highest level. For me, they are heading to the Final Four. It is probably that some injuries they have suffered have played a significant role... Right now, they have a very good momentum. They scored 110 points against Milan and the reason is not only that Mirotic wasn't playing for Armani, but the fact that they are playing very well as a team, they cooperate very well on both ends of the floor. The game will be very hard for us. As for our injured players, Walkup will not be able to play tomorrow, everyone else, despite some minor problems and perhaps not quite proper preparation, are going to be ready for the lineup tomorrow. Vildoza practiced alone yesterday, today he's going to practice with the team, so, he's playing. Fall has had an issue with his finger, but that's what it is, it's a must win game to stay at the upper ranking levels".
Asked about the course of Keenan Evans' rehabilitation process, he replied: «He's doing very well, we are talking about a committed athlete, who puts in even more time on the process at hand, than that we ask him for, lifting weights, strictly following his routine. He's doing very well, we are monitoring him with MRI's and tests. But there is a protocol that we strictly adhere to. He has never practiced withe the team yet. He's doing personal programs, but he hasn't played 5 on 5 and I think it's still quite a long time ahead before he does that».
Larentzakis: «We have seen that when we play together we always have positive results»
On his part, Giannoulis Larentzakis talkin about the upcoming game, said this is a chance to show some reaction and added: "we don't want to lose another home game. Efes certainly has talent but they also have weak points, we have worked the whole week on them and I believe that tomorrow we are going to be who we must be to win"
Asked about the extra time they had to prepare since the team did not have to travel, he said: "for sure, we practiced more, there was a better flow in that process. It has helped for sure", while replying on what the key to beating Efes is, he talked about defense and good choices when attacking. "We have seen that when we play together and move the ball and facilitate with assists and create flow in the game, the result is always positive".