«A mission in a tough court»

Olympiacos visits Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday (02/03, 20:05 CET) in a game for the 24th day of the Euroleague and Giannis Sfairopoulos with Khem Birch talked about the game against the Israelis.

"We have a dangerous mission ahead, Maccabi Tel Aviv is very competitive in its home court. They had been out of share, but they have made a come back, and the proof can be found in the two back to back victories they have made at home against Unics Kazan and Baskonia, so, we definitely have a tough job to do. We need to remain focused, as always, just like I've been asking my players to be both at home and on the road, especially on the road, because now we will be playing in a tough environment, in a tough home court and we need to remain focused for 40 minutes, so as not to lose self-control and be able to implement our plan" the Greek coach originally said.

Next, the Greek Champions' coach was asked on whether calculations in view of the play offs have begun, with only seven games remaining till the end of the regular season. "We are not looking at how many games we have left to play, we are only looking at this game. We have said so from the beginning, we are doing the same now. I know it may sound trivial, maybe we tire you, but it's the only way to move on, we want to be looking at one game at a time, to isolate it, give our max into preparing it and playing it to win. And depending on the results, when we sum them up at the end, we'll see what we'll have accomplished. I believe we are in a good path and the most important thing is we are in control of the situation. It's in our hands".   

KHEM BIRCH:  "I feel that from now on each game is crucial. Because we have to play a lot of games against teams that either want to make the play-offs or make them ranking in a good position. I think that the game against Maccabi, just like all the upcoming rest, is crucial. At them moment we are holding our fate in our hands in regard to home court advantage, that's what we want, that's what we are after and we are looking to see if we could possibly finish even at first place".