Bartzokas: «There are no easy games in the EuroLeague»

Giorgos Bartzokas spoke at the press conference following Olympiacos’ comfortable win over Villeurbanne on EuroLeague round 17.

In his opening statement about the game, the Olympiacos head coach said: “First of all, I would like to thank the team, the players and our fans for their wonderful support. As everyone knows, we never underestimate anyone, because we believe there are no easy games in the EuroLeague. You can make a game easy or difficult yourself. From that perspective, congratulations to our players, because they played exceptionally well, especially on offense. We moved the ball and scored 63 points in the second half, with many assists.

Now our job is to improve our game, to get better in every game while waiting for the injured players to return and for Monte Morris to join the team on Sunday.”
Bartzokas then answered a question about whether the win was also a matter of psychology: “I believe that all games are difficult and I don’t distinguish between home and away games. When Olympiacos plays well, we can win anywhere, and when we don’t play well, we can lose anywhere; even here. In my opinion, after the bad game we played in Barcelona, we had a very good one against Peristeri - I know everyone will talk about the opponent, but for me that is irrelevant - , we played very well against Valencia for three quarters and simply collapsed psychologically in the last stretch, and today we had another good game. I feel that our team is starting to find its chemistry and roles better, and when that happens in full extent, I think we will become a very hard team for everyone to beat.”

The coach was then asked about Tyler Dorsey’s performance, as he appeared more focused on playmaking today: “Every team has its own particularities and chemistry issues. I see it in other teams as well, and because I’m in this environment and talk with other coaches, I know the problems even teams that are winning still have. Everything is very delicate. Players are used to having the ball a lot; it’s not easy. Basketball is changing right now. Teams need deeper rosters, in the EuroLeague you can lose anywhere, and that creates tension in relationships, a lack of trust in each other’s roles and, by extension, in the whole system. Our job is to find how to improve our team’s chemistry while having talented players.

There is no doubt that Tyler is a very good scorer. We talk with him and try, through individual and team meetings, to convince him that for us creation is always more important than execution, because when that happens, we always have many talented players who can score. Usually, when the team plays well and moves the ball a lot, you see it scoring over 100 points. Defensively, we need to show signs of improvement, and we will work hard on that and achieve it.”

You can watch the full press conference in the video below.