«We want to finish the season with a win» (vid)

Olympiacos will be hosting Khimki at the SEF tomorrow (09/04) for the 34th and last day of this season’s Euroleague.

When our team’s coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, was asked whether victory is a motive for the ‘reds’ in view of their match up with the Russian team, he replied: “Of course. We want to finish the season with a win. I think that following a bad stretch we have had around January and February, we played good basketball for long stretches in our games, that were accompanied by some good wins. We would like to finish with a win against Khimki, that faces a very particular situation this year. A lot of their players have departed, and they now play with more emphasis on the native players, except for two foreigners and hence they are more compact, with less talent certainly, but still, more compact. We should approach the game seriously enough”.

About whether constraining Jordan Mickey and Eric McCollum will be keys to the win, he said: “They get about 19 to 20 shots each in any game, a total of 40 for both, and they are a lot, if we consider that they average about 70 to 75 in a whole game. So, we obviously need to play good defense. Mickey is a multifaceted player that plays well both inside and out, shoots well and is effective in the post. McCollum is an exceptional ‘iso’ player that has the skills to score and facilitate his own shots”.

On his part, Giannoulis Larentzakis, pointed out: “It’s obvious that we want to finish the season with a win. I think that we are going to play this last game the way we need to, to get the victory. The most important thing is to contain Mickey and McCollum. These two players get most possessions, manage the most balls, so, if we play good defense on them and stop them, I think that Khimki is going to have a difficult time”.

You can watch the full statements made by Giorgos Bartzokas and Giannoulis Larentzakis in the following video.