Bartzokas and Larentzakis about Maccabi
During the Media Day ahead of the game against Maccabi Tel Aviv (10/04, 20:15 CET), Olympiacos' head coach Giorgos Bartzokas, when asked about the possibility of finishing in first place in the standings, said it would be “a reward for the players' efforts throughout the season.” He also praised the work of Oded Kattash and mentioned that Evan Fournier will be returning to the 'red & whites' roster.
On securing first place and whether Olympiacos aims to finish the regular season at the top:
“Obviously, it doesn’t offer anything concrete in the end, because we don’t know who will finish seventh or eighth. Even if we did know, we wouldn’t try to pick our opponent - we’ll try to win regardless. Given the difficulties we currently face, with absences and everything that comes with that, we’ve still had some good practices. We had three or four days to test things, and we believe we’ll be very competitive tomorrow.”
On the so-called 'curse' of finishing first, and if it concerns him:
“Look, I used to pay attention to that stuff, not anymore. In any case, you can’t ask your team to lose on purpose. Finishing first in such a tough Euroleague, where so many teams are fighting just to get into the playins, let alone the playoffs, and considering which teams are already out, I think it would be a form of recognition for the players’ efforts throughout the year. We’d love to finish first. I think we’ll certainly consider who we might face in the playoffs, but it’s the other teams who should be more concerned, because we’ll be the ones finishing first. That’s the mindset we need. We have confidence, we believe in our team, and that’s how it should be.”
On tomorrow's opponent, Maccabi Tel Aviv:
“We’re facing Maccabi tomorrow. They’re a team that tries to disrupt your offensive rhythm using various tricks, like playing a lot of zone, switching it up with matchups, and making off-ball screen changes. In general, they try to confuse the opponent with these tactics. They’re a very good team, and I have a lot of respect for their coach. I think he has the toughest job in the Euroleague. We’re all exhausted just from regular travel, now imagine doing that for your home games as well. So, I wanted to personally commend him. Apart from what I said last year, that he’s full of basketball ideas, I think he has the hardest job, and they deserve credit for what they’re doing. They’re fighting hard in every game, and you’ve seen they’ve had some big wins recently. We expect them to be very competitive tomorrow.”
On the injury report:
“The only sure thing is that Fournier will be available, he trained normally yesterday. As for Fall and Milutinov, they’re questionable. We’ll see how today’s practice goes and decide after that.”