«It’s an exciting moment!» (pics)
Olympiacos has left Thursday morning (03/10) for France, where he will be playing tomorrow (04/10, 20.45 CET) against Villeurbanne for the premiere of this season’s Euroleague.
“It’s an exciting moment for every one of us with Olympiacos, but also for all Euroleague teams”, the ‘reds’ coach David Blatt pointed out. “It’s going to be a great season, with many great teams, great players and great coaches. It’s going to be a chance for all the fans to enjoy basketball and more specifically, to enjoy European basketball”.
Asked about Villeurbanne, he replied: “First of all, it’s good to have one more team, a team from France, returning to the Euroleague. It’s a great market for basketball. It’s a country with enormous production of talent and big history. So, the fact that the league is expanding adding teams from France and Germany, I think is a good thing for everyone”.
Finally, on whether the players are ready for the premiere game, he commented: “Obviously, the time we have had to prepare with all our players was short. We began on time, however, many of our players got to participate the World Championship with their National teams, while we got to also suffer some injuries. For us, it is very important to be on the same page the soonest possible, with extra motivation and fight our battle so that we face challenges in a short period of time and “build” long term”.
«We should play our game»
The American guard, Brandon Paul, pointed out: “We have prepared well. I have had a very good pre-season. We had some ups and downs, from which we got to learn as a team and we are now ready to appear ready”.
When asked whether he relies on the lack of experience of the French team, he made clear that: “They are pros. They will come out ready to play. It’s certain they are going to fight to protect home court. I believe it’s going to be a battle and that any team gets to play in this court should be absolutely ready, because otherwise they will be leaving unhappy. So we need to make sure this does not happen to us”.
As for the key to the victory, he said: “We need to play aggressive, give our battle and not allow them to control who we get to play. For as long as we make our game, we are going to be OK”.