Bartzokas: "We found rhythm through defense"

Defense was the key to the victory in the game against AEK as well, according to the statements made by the coach of Olympiacos, Giorgos Bartzokas.

“It took us twenty minutes to get into the game details. On one hand, it’s only normal, on the other, it should not be happening. We had a day to prepare following the game against Baskonia. We played against a competitive opponent that made us think that we should be adjusting to a totally different kind of basketball than what we play for the Euroleague. AEK controlled the game in the first half and played very well. They deserve the credit. In the second half, we upped the intensity of our defense and got all the shots the ball movement would allow. We were overthinking in the first half. We were absolutely open and we were thinking that we should be taking a shot at every play. That’s the trap AEK set for us today. However, when we got into rhythm through our defense, we scored in the transition and had movement and we ended the game with 27-28 assists for 8 turnovers, which normally set the game to go over 100 points and got us such a wide margin. Again, congratulations to AEK. We are now getting ready for the game against Real Madrid on Friday”.

AEK’s coach, Stefanos Dedas, pointed out: “I wish a good season to everyone. Today we had our premiere. I’m not shying from the fact that I tried to prepare the team to come here and challenge a win. Someone who has not seen the game and just learns about the final score will be thinking that it was an easy game for Olympiacos, but it wasn’t. They had to put a lot of pressure in the fourth quarter. That means that we did a good job for three quarters. The final score does not do justice to our efforts on one hand, however, on the other, it showcases some of our problems. Due to some issues you are all aware of, right now we two or three players behind in terms of our planning. Today we did a good job tactically though, with combined defensive plays, we made some very good offensive plays as well, but, I will say that again, for anyone to value our performance, they need to watch the whole game and not focus on the final score. Congratulations to Olympiacos, they deserved the win”.