Sfairopoulos: «There are no excuses»
Olympiacos hosts Armani Jeans Milan at the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Tuesday (25/10, 20.00 CET), for the 3rd day of the Euroleague and Giannis Sfairopoulos stresses that there are no excuses and the Piraeus team must win.
“Good evening, tomorrow we play a team that has made a very good start with the Euroleague. They have two victories and I think that Armani, at this moment, is the best Armani of the last few years. They have specific roles, a basic roster since last year and a good team that has performed well on the court and that’s why they have won two games out of two. They are coming here to fight and we need to be prepared, mentally at the most, for a difficult game. We need to be focused in our home court, play well in defense and take advantage of our own assets and play their weaknesses. I hope we have more fans tomorrow in regard to previous games and they push the team to the victory”, the Greek coach originally said.
As for Lefkada and the fact that Olympiacos was a second away from losing, the Greek coach said that “we are looking at one game at a time, we have already forgotten about the past ones. We want to play pressing defense, stay focused on our defensive duties, we don’t want to allow room to the opponent to play their game. This is part of our tactic, that’s how we want to play. How this is going to evolve, well, we’ll see. We want to perform well and get the result we need”.
In regard to Armani Jeans Milan and the shape the Italian team is in, Sfairopoulos explained that “It is true that Armani comes with a very good psychology, they have won both their games, they’ve got nothing to lose. All of the above makes them even more dangerous. We need to remain careful and focused. The game could be hiding traps if we are not careful. In regard to ‘almost big guys’ as you call them, they are different this season. They have a lot of players that can support many playing styles and we need to be ready and stick to our plan”.
Asked about Nikola Milutinov, the 49year old coach said that “He had a tendon inflammation in the knee and we decided to rest him. He practiced and he will play”.
Questioned about continuous trips and whether this is difficult for the players to cope with, the Olympiacos coach was clear “It’s very easy, if someone thinks it’s not, it means they should not be on the team. It’s early to be talking about trips, fatigue and all that. This word is out of limits for us. Whoever plays for Olympiacos has to be ready, they have to be ready to play despite the circumstance. Anything else, is just an excuse to me”.
Now, with the new Euroleague system, Olympiacos will have to play two games for said competition within the week, something that Giannis Sfairopoulos was called to comment upon. «We are entering a week with three games, last week we also played three games, two for the Greek League and one for the Euroleague, that is six games in two weeks. This is how it’s going to be with the new Euroleague. It will be definitely more difficult to cope with your country’s League, with continuous traveling and all that. I don’t accept the excuse of fatigue. When you play for Olympiacos, you need to be mentally ready for every such game, if you are not mentally ready, then you are not fit to play for Olympiacos”.
VANGELIS MANTZARIS: “The game against Armani Milan is a difficult one. They are the best Armani in years, just like the coach has said. They have excellent players, they have quality and talent, they have a deep roster. However, we play in our home court, and we want to get an important victory in view of what comes next. They are coming here with no anxiety at all and that makes them all the more dangerous. They showed how good a team they are since they beat Darusafaka on the road. We need to remain focused and not allow them any margin. We have talked about the season being tough, long, demanding and tiring, there are no excuses, but we are human, so fatigue is a factor. We allowed ourselves to relax against Lefkada at the end, we lost our +16 lead and this should never happen again. But we hold on to the fact that we reacted at the end, turning the game around from – 5. It’s an element we need to build on. The “key” to winning is tempo. We need to run on open court and play good defense”.