Milutinov: «Winning is a big challenge for us»
Olympiacos hosts Barcelona at the Peace and Friendship Stadium (29/01, 20:15 CET) as part of Round 25 of the EuroLeague, with Giorgos Bartzokas and Nikola Milutinov speaking on the Media Day ahead of the big matchup.
The Olympiacos head coach initially spoke about the signing of Cory Joseph, commenting: “He came in due to a lack of availability. We had injury issues and, since this player was on the market and in our opinion is a very good player, the management took care of bringing him in. It’s important for us and he will already be in the 12-man roster tomorrow, because Morris and Ntilikina cannot play and we want a second point guard, and that will be him. Simple as that.”
Regarding Barcelona and the first game on their home court, which hurt Olympiacos, the coach said: “We played our worst game in Barcelona, based on the analysis we did back then, and now that we re-watched the game. We were bad in all areas. It is perhaps the only game we never even came close to winning, where we didn’t really ‘attack’ the game. We did everything wrong. From then on, our team, taking that game as a reference point, showed great improvement in all areas, and that is reflected in the numbers. We expect to respond with a different style of play than the one we showed there, which will include all the basketball fundamentals. There we didn’t set screens, didn’t play with speed, didn’t have patience, we gave them the ball in their hands, we didn’t make good choices when executing and we didn’t go for the rebounds. We had 18 defensive rebounds, and they had 18 offensive ones. We have to do all the things that are important. The EuroLeague shows that the same teams can play again after one or two months under different conditions; player form, presences, absences. But I think that at this point we are playing better, and with our fans here it will be good to impose our rhythm and win.”
Regarding Ward’s strong presence and playmaking against Karditsa and whether that solves an additional problem, Giorgos Bartzokas commented: “You can have playmaking from all positions. You don’t need to be a point guard to create. You can create with forwards or centers. The key is wanting to pass and forego your ego. If you have that intention, it doesn’t matter what position you play in terms of how many assists you make or how you run the team’s system. It has to do with how much you want to cooperate with your teammates. And when you cooperate well offensively, you also cooperate better defensively. A teammate will run to cover your mistake or your weakness. So all these things are a chain of actions that you have to follow.”
Then, the Olympiacos coach answered a question about Cory Joseph’s style of play: “Looking at the practice yesterday, I was impressed. He is extremely experienced and intelligent, he understood the tactics very quickly, he joined the 5-on-5. He had a very good presence. He plays simply, executes well, plays with speed and is very strong. I think he’s a player I don’t need to assess, because his career speaks for itself. His motivation is high and he wants to play at a high level, and tomorrow he’ll have a chance to understand, both with our fans and with the nature of the game, what European basketball is like. In Monte Carlo he had some contact, but without playing. Here he will see that things are quite serious.”
Regarding Olympiacos’ absences against Barcelona, Giorgos Bartzokas stated: “Jones and Milutinov will play. Ntilikina and Morris will not be available, and Papapetrou will also not be available tomorrow because he has sciatica.”
The Olympiacos coach also spoke about the tragic accident involving PAOK fans in Romania: “Words always fail to capture the feelings. Whatever you say now is not enough. It is dramatic and very disturbing to see the incident constantly on your screens. We want to express our condolences. Olympiacos did so officially, but we also do so as people of sports and as members of society in general. It is something so tragic that there are no words.”
On his part, Nikola Milutinov spoke about the injury that had kept him out of previous games: “I’m OK. I was better only one day later, but there was a kind of protocol and the doctors wanted to protect me. It’s part of the job we do, but I’m very happy that I’m back.”
Regarding the game against Barcelona, the Serbian center commented: “It was really a tough loss in Barcelona. We played very badly in that game, but immediately after it we started improving and playing much better. Barcelona is a very good team. They have many quality players who know how to play and how to win games. So, it will be a big challenge for us to get another win.”
Regarding the tragic accident in Romania, Milutinov added: “Yes, I saw it and it’s very unfortunate, very sad. I feel truly saddened seeing such things happen, and from what I heard there was some issue with the car. I wish the families strength during this time.”