Bartzokas and Vezenkov about Monaco
Ahead of the game against Monaco (27/03, 20:15 CET), Olympiacos' coach Giorgos Bartzokas discussed the team's current performance, playing under pressure all season, and what needs to change in the remaining games to finish in the first place.
Initially, responding to a question, the Greek coach mentioned that Giannoulis Larentzakis will be the only addition to the team for tomorrow’s game against Monaco. He specifically said: “The available players will be the same as yesterday, with the addition of Giannoulis Larentzakis. There are no other changes.”
When asked about the physical and psychological reserves of the team and a possible lack of motivation, Bartzokas replied: “Even those of us who have been doing this job for years are still learning about human psychology and behavior. First of all, as I have been saying since the beginning of the season, there is no easy game in the Euroleague. Villeurbanne had seven consecutive losses, but they are in good form, they had huge motivation to beat us yesterday, and you could see that in how they contested every possession - they seemed to be more motivated than us. Is that justified? In my opinion, no. But we have pushed the team, it has been under pressure for months, with many absences and injuries, so you can explain it. You don’t justify it, but you explain it. We are still in first place, which might be in the minds of many around the team, but first place is not guaranteed. It will come if we manage to win 3/3. What matters is to play well tomorrow and win, against a team that will likely be in the playoffs with home-court advantage. So, it’s important to play better and win, because we’ve had two games that don’t match our level.”
On the importance of finishing first in the regular season, he clarified: “I would like to finish first because I believe we deserve it based on the basketball we have played all year. Beyond that, all our opponents are fighting for the best possible ranking. In a month, you don’t know what will happen, how things will look, or how you’ll perform.”
Asked about the return of Vassilis Spanoulis to the SEF as Monaco's coach: “Vassilis has returned here before, as an opponent with Peristeri, and now he is with a very strong, competitive Euroleague team, and he’s doing excellently, in my opinion. Everyone will be happy to see him here, but you understand that my job ends there. For better or worse, he is our opponent now, and we need to win.”
On whether there are similarities between Villeurbanne and Monaco, and if tomorrow’s game provides an opportunity for answers: “Maybe we can compare the two teams, but Villeurbanne beat Monaco two days ago, away. Right now, everything is about approach, the day, and how you shoot the ball. Yesterday, we missed 9 layups, had our lowest two-point shooting percentage of the season, and 9/30 from three, with 10-12 completely open shots from good shooters. All these things matter. In my opinion, how you shoot the ball at this level, where defenses protect the paint well, is always important.”
Sasha Vezenkov’s comments on Monaco and the team’s outlook
Sasha Vezenkov, commenting on the similarities between Villeurbanne and Monaco, stated: “I think Monaco has much more talent. They are a very good team, fighting for home-court advantage, with an excellent coach. We had a long time without two consecutive losses, if I’m not mistaken, so we need to bounce back, play the basketball that got us here, and not lose another game at home. We know what went wrong, what we didn’t do well, and the good thing is that we play right away, so we’ll go and try to win this game.”
Asked about the team’s lower-than-average offensive performance, he commented: “We know we’re not playing well offensively; we see it. We’re trying to figure out what and how to do it, to find easier points. In the last two games, I think maybe due to lack of concentration, we missed several easy points, but it still worries us. We want to win, we wanted the victory in these two games to lock in the first place, but as I said, we play tomorrow and we’re ready for the game.”