Bartzokas: «We must focus on Sunday's game»
After the away win at Panathinaikos’ home court, Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas refrained from diving into tactical analysis, as the entire team is now focused on Sunday’s (08/06) upcoming game.
In his opening remarks, he said: "It was a different kind of game, where offense took center stage. Both teams shot well and attacked the opponent’s weaknesses effectively, which is why the score opened up. But there’s not much to analyze — we have to look ahead to Sunday’s game. It's just 2-1. Panathinaikos is a very capable team, and we need to prepare both mentally and physically for Sunday’s matchup."
When asked about the absences of Fall and Fournier (injury and ejection respectively) and whether tonight’s performance was one of Olympiacos’ best, he commented: "I can’t really analyze whether it was one of our best games. It was a match against Panathinaikos, which always has a unique atmosphere. More important than executing the game plan is staying focused; not letting the pressure of the finals or the opponent’s home court affect you. In that context, considering we didn’t have Goss - an important player for us - and Walkup still isn’t ready to play 30 minutes, and then losing both Fall and Fournier… we showed character. But it’s not the first time we’ve done that."
On coach Ataman not accepting the traditional commemorative banner at the start of the game: "You’d have to ask Mr. Ataman. He didn’t say anything to me. I handed him the banner, and he didn’t take it. Personally, I’ve never done anything like that in my life."
Asked how the team prepared in recent days, especially after what happened in Game 2 and amid off-court uncertainty around the series continuing: "It was difficult. Anyone involved in Greek basketball must admit that we’re among the best. If you look at the development of Greek players, it’s lagging - just like in other top leagues - and when players do emerge, they leave because of the huge contracts abroad. We need to take a hard look at what’s really going on, especially for coaches; not just me and Mr. Ataman, but for coaches on lower-level teams in Greece too. The fact that our teams are among the best in Europe, that there’s such high interest, but also that it crosses the line sometimes… All these recent events were abnormal. We must try to keep the positives and discard the negatives; as much as possible. If that's even possible, I don’t know. It’s very difficult for coaches. We had the support of the management and Mr. Lepeniotis, who spoke to the team. This is our job. We’re a team that has values, that’s humble. No one has made arrogant or egocentric statements. We stay focused on the work we need to do; sometimes we do it well, sometimes we don’t. But we have to maintain this character until the end."
Regarding Fall: "He left for the hospital, he’ll undergo an MRI, and the club will issue an official update. I don’t know the details, but he’s definitely hurt."