Bartzokas: «It’s a chance to prove our worth»
Olympiacos flew to Istanbul, where tomorrow (18/02, 18.30 CET), he will be facing off with Anadolu Efes, for the 25th round of the Euroleague.
Aaron Harrison has not been included in the delegation due to his injury. On the contray, Sasha Vezenkov will be back in action.
“It’s a good chance for our players to verify their worth against one of the best groups in the Euroleague, one with experience, homogeny and talent”, the Olympiacos coach, Giorgos Bartzokas commented, in view of the game against the Turkish team. “They are a loaded team, both in the perimeter and the front line and they have been playing very well lately”.
Asked about the absence of Aaron Harrison, he said: “We cannot be bringing up excuses every time. It is only certain that all teams are missing players. Papanikolaou is very important loss for us and he’s been out for some time now. His absence needs to be covered for from within. Harrison is one more player that could be playing that position, so we need to use some tricks, either play with three guards, or with Vezenkov as a ‘3’”
In response to a question about whether Olympiacos is going to be managing the remaining games till the end of the regular season as a means to gain experience, due to the limited possibilities for qualification, he made clear that: “In no case do we see games this way. We are focusing to winning tomorrow’s game. We believe we still have chances and the math does not preclude us from qualifying as of yet. We are going for any and all chances we have to make it. This is in our team’s nature and that’s our job for this season. Next year is a whole new deal”.
«We all believe»
On his part, Livio Jean-Charles stated: “I feel that each game is tough this season. Efes is a very good team, they have talent, especially in the offense with Larkin and Beaubois. I think it’s going to be a good match up”.
On whether he believes that Olympiacos can still win a spot in the TOP-8, he said: “Definitely, not only I, but rather all of us believe that we have a chance at qualifying. We are going to start with tomorrow’s game, looking for a winning streak that will allow us to do just that”.