«I wonder who the real Olympiacos is...»

The Olympiacos’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, seemed to be yet once again troubled by the fact that his team presented two different faces in one game.

“Congratulations to Fenerbahce for playing a construed game for forty minutes, especially in the first part. They have a lot of quality in every position and can punish their opponent in every chance they get. For us, the same question is being made every time, and that’s what I told my players in the locker room… “I’m really curious to find out who the real Olympiacos is. What’s our team’s reality. How we begin the games or how we end them?” We need to find the answer. Each time we begin, we are hesitant on both ends of the floor. It’s not normal to begin with 13 missed shots and allow 7 offensive rebounds to the opponent. In the second part, when we played with switches and had mismatch at the box out, we gave zero offensive rebounds. I’m really curious about our team and I let my players know. We made a good effort in the second half, but it wasn’t enough. Some missed shots and some turnovers gave the chance to the experienced Fenerbahce to end the game”.

You can watch the full statement Giorgos Bartzokas made here...

The coach of the Turkish team, Igor Kokoskov, pointed out: “It was a very difficult game for us, psychologically speaking. We played against a very good team, with depth, with many experienced players and a team that had nothing to lose. They were playing at home for pride and honor. For us, this game meant a lot. We knew it was going to be decisive. We made a very good start, played in the right direction, followed the plan. Playing with a limited rotation had an impact in the second half, we got tired, made turnovers, but, despite not playing the perfect game, we succeeded against a very good team. We move on, we have a tough schedule and we are focusing on our next game”.