«We should play as a team and have a good plan»
Olympiacos’ delegation left Monday afternoon (11/01) for Israel, where tomorrow (12/01, 20:05 CET) shall be facing off with Maccabi Tel Aviv, for the 19th round of the Euroleague.
Aaron Harrison, Kostas Papanikolaou and Antonis Koniaris did not travel with the team. Alexandros Nikolaidis completed the 12 men roster.
“Our team is in this daily process of trying to improve through adversity and special circumstances”, the coach of Olympiacos, Giorgos Bartzokas commented. “In the previous game, Papanikolaou and McKissic did not play, not it is Harrison that will not be playing, while Martin is injured and we’ll get to assess his condition tomorrow. These are some of the facts that definitely play a role. I have the feeling that Maccabi is on an upward trajectory. They are a team that ranks first in scoring at the fast-break in the league and maybe their percentages in this area when playing at home is even bigger, because they play with a lot of confidence at home. So, our main concern is to execute well in the offense and don’t allow them easy scoring”.
Asked whether the various players missing at any given moment confuse the team, he replied: “I don’t thing it’s such big of a problem. It happens with all the teams. You see how sports are … Absent players are a constant, absences are not to used as excuses. We need to play a game based on our plan and if we play as a team and have a good plan, I think we are going to be able to challenge the game and eventually win it”.
When pointed out that Maccabi Tel Aviv needs some big wins to catch up with the playoffs’ train, he commented: “With all due respect, I have enough on my mind that have to do with Olympiacos. I don’t care what Maccabi does. What I care is that we are better. Now, because Maccabi is our opponent, you always need to be playing crucial games, you need to make big wins, but at the same time, you play under a lot of pressure. I had been in the same situation in the past with Barcelona, when the games were getting less and less and we needed wins to advance to playoffs and every game would be a final. You definitely are focused as if you are playing a final, but at the same time, you are under tremendous pressure. So, you don’t know how each team manages with that”.
On his part, Livio Jean – Charles pointed out: “Each game is different. Just like against Bayern, now against Maccabi we are going to try and win, but I hope it doesn’t go to the last shot”. About the absences, he said: “They definitely have an impact on the team, but at the same time, we trust one another and we know that everyone is ready to step up and do the job. I think that the coach has faith in the players and gives the team confidence”.
About the improved outlook of Maccabi, he said: “I think that they too play better, but it’s a season when each game is totally different to the previous one, or the next one. You may be first, you may be last, however everyone can win and everyone can lose. Compared to Bayern, I think that Maccabi has more talent in the offense, especially in the perimeter, so we need to play good defense”.
Finally, on whether he and his team mates are preoccupied about what happened in the first round, he made clear that: “We don’t think about what happened in the first round, or about what comes next. We are looking at one day at a time and one game at a time”.