Bartzokas: «We made it here together, we are going to win together»

The time is here! Tomorrow (20/04, 20.00 CET), Olympiacos will be hosting Monaco at the #ALLRED SEF ( #OLYKOKKINA ), for the first game of the Euroleague playoffs!

Asked about what his team needs to do to open the series with a win, the Olympiacos’ coach, Giorgos Bartzokas replied: “We need to fight, just like we have been doing throughout the season. Fight for every contested ball, for every rebound, fight with intensity. We play against a team that tops possessions in the transition in the whole of the Euroleague. They are a team good with iso offense, one on one. We have to defend well, control the tempo of the game and of course that everyone who is going to be here tomorrow needs to recognize the difficulty of the game. It’s a difficult game and all these talk floating around about us being the undisputed favorite hold no merit. The playoffs are always particular, they have a lot to do also with the amount of pressure each team is receiving. We definitely are under much more pressure than Monaco is. They have already said that in their statements… So, the way things are though, it’s something we enjoy. We had wanted to be here a lot, we have the home court advantage and we need to make good on that…”

On whether the ‘reds’ fans are Olympiacos’ big weapon, he stressed: “One hundred per cent yes! We are very happy for the sold out. We have made here together, creating this huge dynamic for our team and now we are going to see that we win the games we have to win together”.