«We need to play good defense on Pangos»
Olympiacos will be hosting Zenit St. Petersburg tomorrow (12/03, 20.00 CET) for the 29th round of the Euroleague.
“Tomorrow’s game has to do with an opponent that is one of the pleasant surprises of the season”, the ‘reds’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, commented. “A team that has been doing really well, has won too many games at one possession because they obviously have very good chemistry. They have a very good facilitator, many good shooters and players that know how to play together. They also have a very good coach and is going to be a very difficult game”.
Asked whether defense on Kevin Pangos is going to be key to the game, he replied: “Pangos is a player that scores a lot and has a very significant role into the team’s facilitation. We obviously need to play very good defense on him, regardless of who he is and what kind of combined defenses we are going to be playing. We had done quite well in that aspect in the first round. We need to do the same tomorrow, despite our main player to pull that through then had been Papanikolaou”.
About Kostas Papanikolaou, he pointed out: “We followed all protocols in regard to the specific condition. We tried to have him come back conservatively with treatment. He didn’t have the improvement we were expecting for, so the next stage is surgery. Surgery is going to keep him 2.5 to 3 months off courts”.
«We should be playing hard»
Octavius Ellis stressed about the game against the Russian team: “The previous game was very important for us to win, not just for ourselves, but also for our fans. We had been in dark place, but found our way out”.
About Kevin Pangos, he said: “For sure. He’s a key player, but he’s not alone. He has many good players next to him, that’s why we need to stay focused on our defense for all forty minutes”.
Finally, about the differences in regard to the first round game, when Olympiacos had won in St. Petersburg with Papanikolaou and Martin, who will now be absent, he said: “More of us need to step forward, because we want to continue winning. Our main goal is to win and play the hardest we can up until the end”.
* Vassilis Charalampopoulos experienced some discomfort in his knee and shall undergo and MRI. His participation in tomorrow’s game is doubtful.