Bartzokas: "It’s an especially difficult game"

Olympiacos will be hosting Monaco tomorrow at the SEF (27/10, 18:45) aiming to maintain his undefeated record in Greece and in Europe.

«It’s an especially difficult game, that’s how we have assessed it”, the coach of Olympiacos, Giorgos Bartzokas stressed. “First of all, because it’s our first European game in front of our fans, which is going to create great pressure, which of course we want. But also because our opponent has incredible offensive talent. They are a team that has played most games on the road, except the one against Efes. And they have won all of them, or lost to Maccabi at the end and showed to be really competitive this season and at the highest level”.

About the differences Monaco has this season compared to the last one, he said: “They have added even more talent to the already existing one. They have even more depth, they have twelve high level players. 63% of their points come from their four guards, James, Okobo, Diallo and Lloyd. They are a team that goes to offensive rebounding a lot, that supports the often difficult shots their guards take after offensive rebounds and in general, it’s a game that demands very high focus in defense. Also, we need to defend in those good guards they have in iso situations and the whole team needs to operate well when defending”.  

As for the fact that the SEF is expected to be packed, he said: “It’s fantastic! We are excited it’s going to be that way. We have had fans supporting us in our road games as well. We have had support and I wish it remains the same throughout the season. We, on our turn, are going to be doing the best we can to keep this up”.