Bartzokas: «It’s a very important win»
Olympiacos stopped Baskonia’s undefeated record, won his 3rd game in Spain this season and the team coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, gave credit where due.
“It was a really very hard and important win for us. Baskonia is a fantastic team. We knew that having watched their three former games, but we also realized that tonight, especially with the way they played in the 2nd quarter and how they were shooting in the 3rd one. It took a huge effort to get to control our emotions. We tried to slow down the tempo a little bit, because Baskonia was a very high level throughout the game. Finally, it was Kostas Sloukas that made good decisions at the end of the game, scored and passed the ball to the open players. Sasha Vezenkov also played a decisive role, especially in the 3rd quarter. Walkup’s defense in the second part and Fall’s offensive rebounds, he grabbed five of those, two at a very crucial part of the game, also were very important aspects of the game. We made good with our free throws at the end, we got the win, a very important one. This has been our third win in Spain from the beginning of this season’s Euroleague and I have to give credit to my players for their superb effort”.
Asked whether he feels that Thomas Walkup’s defensive game was key to the game, he replied: “Thomas is an amazing defender, especially against talented opponents, like Howard. Howard was averaging 30 points in the last few games, he was shooting with extreme confidence and we had to defend him really aggressively. Thomas did that, but the team as a whole played good defense also so that we could stop him from making one more good offensive game. Thomas is always a key player for our defense”.