Bartzokas: "It’s important to have our fans support"
Olympiacos will be hosting Bayern Munich tomorrow (15/12, 20.30 CET) and according to our team’s coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, the presence of the fans is important towards the ‘reds’ effort to maintaining their undefeated home record!
Asked about the loss in Belgrade and whether the latest victories by Red Star are proof of how high the level of the Euroleague stands, he said: “No one is surprised by it. All those participating the Euroleague are very well aware of that. Many times the fans, the public opinion, have a different perspective just by seeing the names on the teams’ rosters. However, the Euroleague clearly proves that there very good rosters, good team philosophies, solid programs and in general, you have to be ready anywhere in order to win. The schedule always plays a role, in the sense of who you have played before, how you have played, how long you had to travel… All these of course are true for all teams and you can’t cherry pick them and present them as excuses for your own team”.
About the game against the German team, he pointed out: “The game against Bayern is a challenge for us. I was reading a little bit about the game analysis journalists have been making, according to which Olympiacos must definitely win both games this week. I’d like to tell you that the game against Bayern is very difficult, due to their style of playing but also due to the fact that they are in really good shape at the moment. They have shrank their rotation, they’ve been playing with eight players, but they have been playing very well together. They use to attack the players they consider to be weak with their defense, trying to attack the mismatch. They play defense more or less like we do. A 60 to 70% of their defense time is switching, with versatile big players that can serve this plan”.
And he went on the say: “I repeat, it’s a challenging game for both our players and us. It’s going to be important to have the usual support we have been enjoying at home from our fans. It’s a difficult game and nobody says we are definitely going to win”.
Asked about whether Olympiacos is going to be focusing on any particular player of the opposing team, he replied: “You can’t be focusing on any one player. They play with three big players that are more or less the same, I’m talking about Hunter, Rubit and Thomas, who play the ‘4’ and the ‘5’ positions. They have the ability to be good in the post and also to be shooting well from the perimeter. Practically all five of their current perimeter players, Hilliard is out so Yaramaz plays more. It’s generally easy to understand what they are doing, but difficult to play against them. Because these players are in good shape, the coach has been with them for quite some time and has established his philosophy. They are a team that made the playoffs last season and missed the Final Four for just one less winning game. I think that this season, they added players to their roster that are very well familiar with the Euroleague. Hunter or Hilliard are examples of that. They aim high. I believe that if we play well, we are going to win. But it’s not a game you can win with a so and so performance”.
Moustapha Fall did not play the game against Apollon Patras so as to fully recover from the sprain he suffered in the game against Larissa. Talking about the French center, he said: “Fall practiced yesterday and he’s going to be practicing today. You know he has body of a 2.20m. and enough weight, so a sprain does not have the same impact on him compared to a shorter player. I think though that he’s going to be quite well tomorrow to be able to help us”.