Bartzokas: «We need to do something extra to win»
Olympiacos will be hosting the undefeated until now Armani Milano at the SEF tomorrow (14/10, 20.00 CET) for the 3rd round of the Euroleague.
“We expect to be getting better every day. To be more cohesive, more compound, avoid blanc periods. I think that this was obvious against Panathinaikos, since we had more good periods compared to the game against Zalgiris”, the ‘reds’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas pointed out and continued with his comments: “I hope that tomorrow, in a game of very particular circumstances, we are going to be even better. At this moment, our opponent is different. Armani is a team that has not lost a game yet, either a friendly or an official one. They only have wins. That means we are going to have to do something extra to beat them. They are a team that has a mixture of talent and experience. We are going to have to stick to our plan, control our feelings, remain solid and win a game we really want”.
Asked whether the rotation is going to be limited, he replied: “I usually don’t think with how many players I’m going to be playing before the game. This happens according to how the game evolves. If you feel that a player delivers what you want from him, you give him more minutes. Many times you have to take fouls into account, there are too many variables… So, I don’t have in mind that we should be playing with eight players, with ten, or twelve. The sure thing is that Armani has twelve very good players, very experienced, and whoever is on the floor will need to be really focused, as well as tough, because they are a team that we have to play with physicality”.
On whether he’s troubled by the lack of facilitation by the ‘reds’, the coach analyzed: “This has to do with how solid a team is and how ready to perform certain automations on the floor. However, I would like to be lenient with my players, because I don’t see any other teams performing at such high levels… No one is completely ready, they all seem to be lacking cohesiveness”.
On the injured players, he said: “There is a serious chance that Sloukas is playing, not so much for Jean-Charles. But we’ll have to see anyway because we have one more practice ahead”.
Finally, when asked to comment on the situation witnessed due to the many Covid-19 cases within Euroleague teams, he replied: “It’s a novice situation and I’m not sure we had all interpreted the facts correctly. When a team lines up only six or seven players, it’s obvious that they don’t even aspire to winning the game. I heard that Zenit did not travel to Spain. It’s obviously tampering, but I don’t know what to tell you. Coaches don’t enjoy this. You should know that apart all else, there is a concentration factor, how to make your team think about basketball, if for instance, the other team has five covid cases. It may be that your players are afraid to play. Euroleague coaches have been discussing this among us and we are all wondering about it… How are you going to have your team focus on game tactics when most of them are thinking that the opposing team has coronavirus cases and we might catch it too… But it’s a situation that calls for others to make the proper decisions”.
«We need to be tough with our defense»
According to Giorgos Printezis, defense is going to be the key in the game against the Italians. “They are a very talented team. They have incorporated players that show a lot of character this year, they know how big teams are, they are winners. It’s a game that we need to maintain our concentrations as much as possible, because their talent is enough to lead them to building a big margin in no time. We need to be tough with our defense and not allow them to play aggressively, which is something they know to do really well. Since we play at home, we need to control the rebounds and run as much as possible, something we did not do in the previous game we played at home”.
Asked if a game against Panathinaikos can disorient him and his team mates, he replied: “It will show in the game. What I see, is that the derby is in the past. Either you win a game against Panathinaikos or you lose one, you need to move on. Feelings are about the same for me, because we are professionals and we need to stay focused on our goal. No one has ever achieved anything by simply winning a derby. The season is very long, you need to constantly improve and improve a lot. We have one more challenge ahead of us, get two very good victories to practically ‘erase’ the loss to Zalgiris on day one”.
Finally, when asked to comment on the new reality that has been shaped due to Covid-19, he said: “The truth is we all knew it was going to be a weird season. From the moment it was decided that an NBA kind of bubble would not apply, I predict that maybe winter is going to be a little harder. It is very possible that many teams are going to have members down with coronavirus. I had said from the start that the most important thing of all is for everyone to be healthy when the season ends and that everything else is of secondary importance. From there on, just a little before round 3, we have started to witness signs and I believe that it’s kind of unfair for a team to simply forfeit the game. Because when you impose such a penalty on a team, you probably take away from them a victory well deserved. But there are experts, doctors, those who make decisions and I guess they might know more…”