Bartzokas: «I have no complaints from my players»
Giorgos Bartzokas appeared to be content by the effort his players put up in the game against Fenerbahce.
«I think that we made a very serious effort for more than 35 minutes, taking into account that we were missing a lot of players. Fener played switching a lot in defense and Milutinov's absence was very critical for us tonight. But that's only normal, you are going to be missing quite a few players during that marathon the EuroLeague is. You have to continue playing as a team and remain competitive and we did that. I have no complaints from my players. Certain plays on both ends of the floor, bad timing, the momentum when we missed four layups in a crucial point inf the game in the fourth quarter that threw us off and I think the triple and a foul by Meli finished the game. But, it's OK. We must take into consideration that we were coming from a very high intensity game like the one with Panathinaikos and some times you feel empty following games like those. Especially, when you have to face off against one more very strong team, like Fenerbahce. We should have been tougher. We weren't as tough as Fenerbahce was. We know they play this style of basketball, they press, they grab... We had to adjust to it, but we didn't do that for all 40 minutes».
Asked about Evan Fournier's percentages, he replied: «He's a fantastic player. He's a tremendous asset for us. He's a leader in the way he plays, the way he sacrifices himself sometimes. We in the team are aware of all that. I think his percentages are going to get better as the season progresses, when the big games are here. It was the same in last season also. I'm not worried».
About Kostas Papanikolaou's record, who is now the top rebounder in Olympiacos' history, he said: «Kostas has my absolute respect. His consistency at such a high level and the fact that he scores these amazing numbers, despite not pursuing doing so, is invaluable».
On whether the discomfort Sasha Vezenkov was experiencing is something serious, he responded: «I don't think so. He felt his hamstring tightening. I don't think it's something serious. However, having to play in two days for the EuroLeague, you never know. We'll see».