Bartzokas: «We need to recover»

Olympiacos will be hosting Partizan tomorro (10/11, 20.00 CET) at the SEF, determined to return to winning.

"Partizan is a team that has won three out of its last five games and lost two while having led for 39 minutes. So, they have established a style of playing that controls the game", our team's coach, Giorgos Bartzokas commented before continuing with the following:"Of course they beat Panathinaikos last week on the road and we are coming from losing two home games. We have to react, we have to recover and with a win. In no case our mission is easier due to injuries the opponent is facing. We are not naive to believe something like that. In essence, Exum has not been playing, but we also played without Papanikolaou in Spain and won two games. What I'm saying is that at that level, an absence of couple of players does not translate to the weakening of a team. The game is demanding, it's tough. Partizan has been playing with a lot of intensity and they defend very well on th3e ball. They more or less play the kind of defnese we play too, with switching, with Lessort being very effective when guarding perimeter players. It's an important game for us at this moment, just like every other one in the Euroleague". 

Two former 'red & whites' and the defense on them will be, according to the coach, the key to the game. "Panter and Leday are the players that are right now scoring most of their team's points and they have to most playing time. Leday is averaging 32 minutes, Panter almost scored 30 points against Panathinaikos, more on iso situations, but also on off-ball ones. They are definitely very efficient scorers and you need to remain focused on all forty minutes in defense, so as not to allow them get into rhythm. Leday is shooting 50% with threes. We showed to our players how they play, how Partizan is trying to utilize them and of course playing good defense on them throughout the game is going to be one of the keys to it".