Bartzokas: «Crvena Zvezda is one of the best teams of the League» (vid)

Olympiacos is flying to Belgrade on Tuesday afternoon (25/11) ahead of the game against Crvena Zvezda for the 13th round 13 of the EuroLeague. Our team’s coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, and Saben Lee made statements at the Athens airport about the matchup with the Serbian team, shortly before the team’s departure.

 

Giorgos Bartzokas said in his statements: "Crvena Zvezda’s progress isn’t just upward, they are one of the best teams in the competition. They play very good defense, with great intensity, they pressure the ball. You need to move the ball a lot if you want to find good conditions in the offense.

 

They have confidence because, playing with a short rotation, everyone was playing many minutes and scoring efficiently in post-up situations. Overall, it’s a difficult mission for us, and we need to play really well."

 

Regarding the key points of the game, the Olympiacos coach commented: "Since two and even three players collapse on the ball, often even from the strong side, you need to make fast decisions. If you go too deep into the paint, you usually have problems. There are lineups where they play Ojeleye at the ‘5’, which creates special conditions; they can, for example, switch on every screen.

 

There are many things they do well as a team, which is why they are high in the standings. We must respond to what is required and to the game plan we have set. I think we are a team that can do that; move the ball well and shoot it with good percentages. We definitely need to match Crvena Zvezda’s intensity."

 

Bartzokas then commented on the fact that, after Ettore Messina’s resignation, he has become the longest-tenured coach in the EuroLeague, and how difficult that is: "It’s very difficult. Right now, a situation is forming in European basketball with so many games that the coach plays an increasingly less significant role because he doesn’t have time to prepare the team. At the same time, as it seems, he is considered the sole person responsible, and coaches lose their jobs. This is not something that pleases me.

 

Obviously, I’m happy that I have stayed with Olympiacos for so long. It means that the club presidents, the Angelopoulos brothers, trust me, the staff, and the way we work. But you know, at this level, everything is tied not only to the basketball the team plays but also to titles and wins, because in professional sports that’s ultimately the only thing that counts."

 

Finally, the Olympiacos coach answered a question about Saben Lee, who was excellent against PAOK and remains one of his options especially now with all the injury problems: "I hope he continues like this. He’s a kid who, whenever he’s called to play, gives 100% to do what we ask of him, and of course, you know he has great scoring ability. If you leave him in the game for 20 minutes, he’ll score 15 points easily.

 

The issue is that right now, what we are missing most when Saben is on the court, is playmaking. If he responds to that, I have no problem at all; on the contrary, I like him as a player. He has many abilities, also athletically, but he needs to learn to run the team’s game a bit more, because a scorer always has the instinct to go to the basket, and sometimes more patience is required."

 

From his side, Saben Lee said: "I can’t talk about scouting before the game. We will certainly do whatever the coach asks us to do on both ends of the floor. It will be my first time playing there. I didn’t have the chance to play last year, but everyone says the atmosphere is interesting, and I’m excited to experience it. We have absences, but we will try to respond in order to win."

 

Finally, when asked about his good performance in the domestic league, Lee commented: "I just try to do my job."

 

Watch the full statements in the video below.