Bartzokas: "We should have patience when in offense"
Olympiacos will be hosting Villeurbanne tomorrow (15/01, 20.30 CET), for the 20th round of the Euroleague and the victory is required for the team to stay within the TOP-8 orbit.
Asked whether the ‘reds’ are ready, following the victory in Tel Aviv, to start a new count and build a good momentum, our team’s coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, stressed: “I cannot be making these kind of predictions. We have a game and the opponent is a difficult one. The game is even harder, because they lost to Panathinaikos and with quite a wide margin. I’m one of those who think that they deserve to be ranking better based on their athleticism and talent. We all understand that we have to deal with a very formidable opponent”.
He went on to talk about Villeurbanne: “They are a team that can surprise you either way. On their good day, they can beat any one Euroleague team because they have a lot of athleticism in the perimeter as well, they have big bodies, they have rim protectors… They are a team that shapes a very particular style of playing for the opponent. You need to be patient when in offense, because they are very aggressive with their first couple of passes in the offense. You need to be patient to find good choices. In general, it’s a game that no one should dare think to be easy. It’s a forty minute game where every position counts”.
On whether he is troubled by the fact that Villeurbanne’s ranking can be cause for … relaxation, he said: “We have discussed with the team that by now there is no room for relaxation, if we want to stay on course. Euroleague this season is very tough, there are teams that no one had expected to be that strong, like Zenit and Bayern. There are teams that are very strong and were favorites to make the TOP-8 but are now trailing us, like Efes and Fener. Everyone has understood that there is no room to be complacent or relaxed. Each game is very crucial. It may be that the victories needed to make the TOP-8 this season are more. So, even though it’s still early in the season, each game is very significant according to my opinion”.
Finally, when asked to talk about the team’s injured players, he said: “Harrison practiced with no problems. Martin did not practice yesterday and probably will not practice today either. Maybe he only warms up so we can see where he stands. He’s not well though, he’s in pain, but it’s an injury that cannot get any worse, even if he plays. But he deals with pain and he had to have an injection to play against Maccabi. As for Papanikolaou, he’s out as you all know”.
* Hassan Martin made part of today’s (14/01) practice session.
«I need to tire Fall»
Octavius Ellis said about tomorrow’s game: “We play against a good team, that for some reason is not doing that well this year. Nevertheless, they have talent and that’s why we need to be focused in defense and get the rebounds”.
About the difficult task he’s going to have against the really tall Villeurbanne center, Mustafa Fall, he commented: “I shall have to match up his energy. He’s one of the best tall players of the League and he’s also really tall. I’ll need to tire him on both ends of the floor”.
Finally, asked whether Olympiacos has the opportunity to build a good momentum, he replied: “Yes. One factor is the concentration of the team. I think that at this point in the season, we have come closer as a team and we need to be focusing at one game at a time”.