«Tough game, we need to react»

Olympiacos hosts Baskonia for the 18th day of the Euroleague on Friday (20/1, 20:00, CET) and Giannis Sfairopoulos spoke about the game against the Basques.

"They have very athletic players who are skilled scorers. Overall, there are many players who can do you harm, not one or two, there are others. We must stop their easy baskets and transition game that is perfect for them. The play the transition to perfection. In our offense, we need to play smart, find the gaps, be more aggressive and play as a team. It's an important game, we must follow our plan, work today at practice what we want and to draw them on the court tomorrow. We must be ready for a tough game, "the Greek coach originally said.

Asked about what happened in the match of the first round and what he's waiting for to happen now, the 49year old coach replied that "in the first round game our offense won us the game. Our offense helped us a lot, but it's not always you can bet, however, in such a good day. Of course, if you have a good offensive day, it is important, however, our philosophy is to start the game from our defense. We are focused on defense, to stop our opponents and for our offense to have pluralism and a good score. "

Giannis Sfairopoulos was asked what Olympiacos must correct after the lost Cup semifinal. "Certainly you get something from every game. Regardless of having won or lost, you must look at your mistakes and correct them. "

The next question was whether a mediocre day in the offense affects the operation of defense as well. "Good offensive operation definitely depends on the day. Many times, we have the movement, but not good shooting rates to characterize it a success. Generally we work on our offense a lot, we want to operate as a team, with patience and to look for the free player. If injuries have affected our attack, certainly, when you have injuries you go out of your rhythm, but I do not think we should dwell so much on this because Olympiacos has players, even if there are injuries, to fill the void of each one, to play well and win. Certainly it is something we need to improve. When you're well ahead, it happens in any team, when you do not play well for a couple of minutes, the most important is the defense to keep you in the game. We want to hold on to it, to improve it and to always have that because it is very important. The defense operates independently of the attack, many times this is not easy because the players are people and emotionally, when you lose an easy basket, a lay-up, a free shot, you fall psychologically and that plays an important role in coming back to play defense . This, however, should not be happening, you are right, and we say it many times during practice and in the games, the defense is what it is and no matter how our offense is doing, our defense should be running flawlessly.

Giannis Sfairopoulos was asked whether the game against the Basques is among the ones he thinks definitely need to be won. "For us, all games need to be won. Olympiakos plays to win all the games" was the answer.

The coach of Greek champions was asked whether the defeat in the semifinal will be an extra motivation for the team. "Of course it is an extra motivation, we have to play well. We want to react to this game"

ERIC GREEN: "We must react, we have before us a great game for the Euroleague, we need to prepare for a battle tomorrow. This is an excellent group. For us, all begin with the defense. They have Bobua, Larkin and many other good players. We must be ready to fight a tough match. We are ready to play a hard game, I've played against Larkin before and have been really looking forward to this game. We need to move forward. We can not and must not duel anymore about the Monday game. "

DOMINIQUE WATERS "They are a fast team, they have many athletic players. We must be prepared to play good defense. We must stop them. Stick together; play properly on both ends of the floor. We want easy points offensively, find energy and rhythm through the defense and the coach, trust me, he has given us great motivation for this game. The Baskonia is close to us ranking wise, they are coming here to win, we must be ready. It is still too early to talk about ratings and whatever else; we just want to win tomorrow and then see about the next game. "