Bartzokas: «I wish sports don’t get to mourn any more victims»
Olympiacos got the win in Thessaloniki, however, as Giorgos Bartzokas pointed out, the game was secondary…
“We definitely wanted to win, however, as you can all understand, the game is secondary. I want to express my heartfelt condolences to Alkis’ family. I also want to refer to a very significant day for Olympiacos tomorrow, since it’s the anniversary for the victims of Gate 7. I wish that sports don’t get to mourn any more victims”.
Asked whether he thinks that violent incidents are going to become obsolete from now on, he replied: “I’m not optimistic. Greek society is always getting active after such a tragedy. However, these things have happened in the past also, if you recall. We have had too many incidents like that happening. Suddenly, Greek society is ‘leaning’ over the problem, is contrite, states so in some sort of fashion and after a while we are back to square one. This has nothing to do with sports. It has to do with our education and culture as a society. That’s what I believe”.
Talking about the game, he said: “Congratulations to Aris for a tenuous effort for forty minutes. After a double game week for the Euroleague and having also traveled, we wanted to win and we were really hasty to think that we were going to win the game in the first half. But that’s never the case. Aris has fighting spirit, they have athleticism, guards that press the ball a lot and they play at high speed. It took us to turn to common sense at the end to win the game”.
Asked about the mere 11 points Olympiacos got to score in the 3rd quarter, he commented: “We thought it was over. Larentzakis came in the game, who had been absent due to health reasons and wanted to give him minutes. We wanted to give minutes in general, but we had to play as a team and had to keep a clear head to stay on track for forty minutes. Hanlan made some very difficult shots, he was shooting very well in the second half. He made many guarded shots, as well as many open ones. But I don’t think we should be dwelling on the game any longer. We feel we are at a critical point in the season. We have some very important Euroleague games ahead, as well as the Greek Cup Final Four. And we want to be done with games like tonight’s against Aris from the first quarter. This won’t cut it. We need to understand that a huge effort is required on our part”.
Finally, on whether the 35 points Hanlan scored against the perimeter defense of the ‘reds’ is something that troubles him in view of the game against Efes, he replied: “They are not similar games. Hanlan is very capable on one on one. If you want me to put it another way, we would have had a better defender on him for much of the game. We did not do that tonight. If this was the next game, we would have tried to put some specific players on him. But, as you can understand, our concentration also plays a role. We have had very difficult games. The game against Real demanded a great deal of energy and then, right after that, we played a must win road game against Baskonia. And then we had to play another road game against a team that relies on athleticism and energy. American players play with a lot of energy in every league. The American players for Aris had a whole week to prepare to play this game and when they play against teams like Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, they have a great motivation to play well. So, if you are a little relaxed, you might be in danger. We weren’t in danger at the end, but not finishing the game as we were supposed to is an element of the game”.