«The game against Valencia is demanding»
The OIympiacos delegation left today (30/03) for Spain, where tomorrow (31/03, 21.00 CET) will be playing against Valencia, in the framework of the 32nd round of the Euroleague.
“It’s different to be fighting for your mathematical chances at qualifying from knowing that you are out of the game”, the ‘reds’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, admitted. “As you are aware, the game for Valencia is like a final. Right now they are out of the TOP-8, however, they have a good schedule and they will have to see how tied-rankings will play out. So, they play a final against us, which is also true about Real Madrid that we are playing next. The thing is that if in these cases you don’t play together as a team and you don’t have a serious approach, there’s danger because your opponent has an extra motivation, they are in advantage. They are a talented team. They are first in assists in the League, they are a team where both forwards and guards pass the ball quite a lot and they have a lot particulars among their ranks, “threes” that post, centers who shoot facing the rim as well as threes. So, it will take a certain way to face them. They are a good team and the game is demanding”.
Asked if he now had the answer about the fact that Olympiacos has began most of this season’s games very badly and was almost always trailing the score, he replied: “It’s better that we wait for the last three games to play out to make a complete assessment and analysis about what we did well and what we didn’t. Evaluating now the whole situation and everyone participating this season’s endeavor, ourselves including, is kind of a mistake. It’s better that we do that in a short while, when the season will be over, and I will be in the mood and have the time to say a lot more”.
When asked to comment about Real Madrid, which his team will be facing on the road for the 33rd round, he said: “To understand the level of difficulty of this season’s Euroleague, Real is in danger of not making the playoffs. Randolph’s injury and Campazzo leaving for the NBA created many problems. Just like with us. Papanikolaou and Martin getting injured were incidents that had a great toll on us. These are also in the analysis we need to do at the end of the season”.
On his part, the French forward, Livio Jean-Charles, stated: “Valencia desperately needs to win. They have been fighting and will be fighting every game, so that they qualify for the playoffs. However, that’s about how we have been approaching the games, because we need to win the games we have left. So, we will have the same approach as always. That’s our team’s mentality”.