«What counts is how ready you are»
Olympiacos began the Euroleague double-round week with a win against Armani Milano and wants to close it the same way tomorrow (16/10, 20.00 CET) in the game against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
“It’s going to be a difficult game. Maccabi is coming from two back to back losses, however, they are a high quality team and they are certainly going to try for a reaction”, the Olympiacos coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, commented. Asked whether his players are going to be have the time to assimilate all the information he’s going to be giving them on the Israelis, he replied: “Right now we shouldn’t be overcoaching. When you have back to back games, you only have one day in between and if you try to give too much data on the opponent you practically mess with your team more rather than helping it play well. You need to put emphasis on certain aspects, some keys for the game that we should be focusing on and definitely it’s not the same scouting with having one game per week, when you have the time to have 5 or 6 meetings to prepare. Now we have one and a half meeting to get ready to play, but the same also goes for our opponent”.
He then talked about the importance of trust being ‘built’ among the players… “We have been looking at the Euroleague results up to now and there are more wins for the guests than for the hosts. This shows that home court is not that much of a factor anymore due to the absence of fans of course, as well as to the very particular circumstances. It’s not that much what we say about the 6th player, that the fans can somewhat have an impact on the opponent, the officials… Right now it counts how ready you are for the games. I think that Olympiacos seems to be playing well for longer periods in the game since the beginning of the season and that’s normal. I obviously don’t think that are yet a team that can be absolutely consistent with its performance, but each passing day helps us get better and we start believing in one another. That’s very important, for every player to know that they can count on their team mates and all together on our determined style of playing”.
When asked to comment Euroleague’s decision to abolish the 20-0 penalty, he stressed: “I completely agree. Even if were a team that could possibly have something to gain from this situation at some point, I would still say the same. It’s not something that anyone wants, for the games not to be decided on the court that is. Right now, what we all should be interested in is the product, basketball and even more specifically, Euroleague basketball. It should be attractive and fair and enjoyable to the fans. It’s important for all of us the product we present and anyway appeals to the fans because of the high level of quality, to also be fair and that people understand that”.
«We should focus on the opportunity…»
Kostas Papanikolaou commented about tomorrow’s game: “Double-round weeks are particular, especially when you have to face two excellent teams like Armani and Maccabi. It’s not the first season this happens though. More or less, everyone has experience from these situations. It’s not easy, that’s certain, but just like it’s not easy for us, it’s also not easy for the opponent. We need to prepare as much as possible, leave last night’s game behind and look ahead at the opportunity we are presented with to play one more good game and fight for yet another win”.
Talking about the “keys” of the game, he said: “Maccabi is a team that has a consistent core from last season, with very significant players on its roster. They are a very tough team defense wise, but with a lot of offensive talent as well. They have the skills to transfer all that defensive dynamics into offense, either with primary fast breaks, or with secondary ones or with a quick pick n’ roll and fast plays to take advantage of defense imbalances. That makes them a very dangerous and unpredictable team, that’s why we need to remain absolutely focused. They have players that can strike at any moment and cause imbalance”.