Bartzokas: "For Kostas" (vid)
Giorgos Bartzokas, dedicated Zenit’s victory to the ‘reds’ forward, Kostas Papanikolaou.
“I would like to congratulate my players for their great effort in three quarters. It’s a victory I really appreciate because I have huge respect for Zenit. They have a great record with road games. They have had nine wins up to now, so it had really been a demanding game. Congratulations to Pascual and Zenit for their performance this season. I also want to congratulate my players. I wish to dedicate the victory to Kostas Papanikolaou that had a surgery today. I’m sending him my best wishes, mine and the whole team’s, for a speedy recovery. He’s a very important player for us and we are waiting for him to come back even healthier”.
Xavi Pascual commented as follows: “Congratulations to Olympiacos. We completely disappeared in the second half. We were losing confidence each passing minute, we stopped playing offense, we could not score under the rim, we could not score when we were completely open. Olympiacos changed the game with Vezenkov. From the moment we could not find a way to the basket in easy situations, it was impossible to win. We were lacking confidence in the last quarter and did not deserve to win”.
You can watch what Giorgos Bartzokas had to say here...
The captain, Vassilis Spanoulis, pointed out: “We did not make a good beginning in the game. We talked in the locker rooms and played a great second part, with energy and good decision making. We are Olympiacos, not matter what is going on, either we are in or out, either we are making the final 8 or not, we need to be representing the team with pride, we need to be representing the fans, the organization. It’s a matter of sporting ego”.
Giorgos Printezis made the following comment: “You have the obligation to continue fighting. We did not do just by us in the previous games. The way we were playing, we did not deserve to make the playoffs. We need to finish the season the strongest possible, showcase that there is work been done at practice. We need to be winning for the fans. Despite this being a difficult season, the fans want to watch their team win. We have to do just that. There’s always pressure, but we need to finish the season with our heads up high”.